Strong arms gripped him from behind.

The sword was wrenched from his hand.

He was flung down heavily, and pinned prone in a corner by one of those bullies who knelt on his spine.

And then the door opened again, and poor Rabecque groaned in impotent anguish to behold Mademoiselle de La Vauvraye pause white-faced and wide-eyed on, the threshold at sight of Monsieur de Condillac bowing low before her.
She stood there a moment between the two ruffians who had been sent to fetch her, and her eyes travelling round that room discovered Rabecque in his undignified and half; strangled condition.
"Where...

Where is Monsieur de Garnache ?" she faltered.
"He is where all those who cross the will of Condillac must sooner or later find themselves," said Marius airily.