We gave us no greeting, but by a short word dismissed Bure and the soldiers to the lower end of the room.

And then he stood and looked at us four, but principally at his rival; and looked, and looked with eyes of smouldering hate.

And there was a silence, a long silence, while the murmur of the crowd came almost cheerfully through the window, and the sparrows under the eaves chirped and twittered, and the heart that throbbed least painfully was, I do believe, Louis de Pavannes'! At last Bezers broke the silence.
"M.

de Pavannes!" he began, speaking hoarsely, yet concealing all passion under a cynical smile and a mock politeness, "M.

de Pavannes, I hold the king's commission to put to death all the Huguenots within my province of Quercy.