A breathless silence fell.

"Then have it so.
Listen, gentlemen, that you may be witnesses.

I do here pledge my castle of Bardelys, and my estates in Picardy, with every stick and stone and blade of grass that stands upon them, that I shall woo and win Roxalanne de Lavedan to be the Marquise of Bardelys.

Does the stake satisfy you, Monsieur le Comte?
You may set all you have against it," I added coarsely, "and yet, I swear, the odds will be heavily in your favour." I remember it was Mironsac who first found his tongue, and sought even at that late hour to set restraint upon us and to bring judgment to our aid.
"Messieurs, messieurs!" he besought us.

"In Heaven's name, bethink you what you do.