"You will want witnesses on your side," observed the chancellor.
"That is awkward, for everybody there seems to be on the other side."
"Not everybody," interrupted the countess, "for if the affray was the one that happened in Chaussee village, I can be your witness. I came through there a couple of hours after, and all were talking of it!"
lady," said the viscount; "for if you speak in my favor, you will make an enemy of Choiseul."
"She ought to lean on your arm, then; though one is wounded, it will soon be healed, and the other is still formidable," said the law lord, while the old dame rolled from one gulf into another.
"Ah, but I know another, whose arms are perfect," said Jean, merrily; "and service for service, she will offer your ladyship hers. I am going straight to my sister, and I offer you a seat in my carriage."
"But without motive, without preparations," faltered the countess.
"Here is your excuse," whispered Maupeou, slipping Zamore's governmental instructions into her sallow, wrinkled hand.
"My lord chancellor, you are my deliverer," she gasped. "And the viscount is the flower of the chivalry."