Fools, will you gasp out your lives upon the rack, or writhe in boiling oil, at the bidding of this madman ?" "Who are these men, Marceau ?" cried the seigneur furiously.
"They are prisoners, your excellency." "Prisoners! Whose prisoners ?" "Yours, your excellency." "Who ordered you to detain them ?" "You did.

The escort brought your signet-ring." "I never saw the men.

There is devilry in this.

But they shall not beard me in my own castle, nor stand between me and my own wife.
No, _par dieu!_ they shall not and live! You men, Marceau, Etienne, Gilbert, Jean, Pierre, all you who have eaten my bread, on to them, I say!" He glanced round with furious eyes, but they fell only upon hung heads and averted faces.

With a hideous curse he flashed out his sword and rushed at his wife, who knelt half insensible beside the block.
De Catinat sprang between them to protect her; but Marceau, the bearded seneschal, had already seized his master round the waist.