Chapter One
The young Frenchman did very well what he had planned to do.
His guess that the Duke would cheat proved good. As the unshod halfdozen
figures that had been standing noiselessly in the entryway stole
softly into the shadows of the chamber, he leaned across the table and
smilingly plucked a card out of the big Englishman\'s sleeve.
"Merci, M. le Duc!" he laughed, rising and stepping back from the
table.
The Englishman cried out, "It means the dirty work of silencing you
with my bare hands!" and came at him.
"Do not move," said M. Beaucaire, so sharply that the other paused.
"Observe behind you."
The Englishman turned, and saw what trap he had blundered into; then
stood transfixed, impotent, alternately scarlet with rage and white with the
vital shame of discovery. M. Beaucaire remarked, indicating the silent
figures by a polite wave of the hand, "Is it not a compliment to monsieur
that I procure six large men to subdue him? They are quite devote\' to me,