"The same motive that led me to join hands with that ruffian St.Auban, when he spoke of waging war against Mancini; the same motive that led me to break with him when I saw through his plans, and when the abduction of Mademoiselle was on foot; the same motive that made me come to you and tell you of the proposed abduction so that you might interfere if you had the power, or cause others to do so if you had not." I lay back in my chair and stared at him.

Was this, then, another suitor of Yvonne de Canaples, and were all men mad with love of her?
Presently he continued: "When I heard that St.Auban was in Paris, having apparently abandoned all hope in connection with Mademoiselle, I obtained a letter from M.de la Rochefoucauld--who is an intimate friend of mine--and armed with this I set out.

As luck would have it I got embroiled in the streets of Blois with a couple of cardinalist gentlemen, who chose to be offended by lampoon of the Fronde that I was humming.

I am not a patient man, and I am even indiscreet in moments of choler.

I ended by crying, 'Down with Mazarin and all his creatures,' and I would of a certainty have had my throat slit, had not a slight and elegant gentleman interposed, and, exercising a wonderful influence over my assailants, extricated me from my predicament.