"I know it. What next?"
"Secondly, that the whole conspiracy of the carnations was conducted by the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge."
"I know that also."
"But this you do not know,—that the conspiracy of the carnations and that of the subterranean passage are one and the same."
"Again, I know it."
"Then let us pass on to the third piece of news. This I am certain you cannot know. We go this night to capture the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge."
"To take the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge?"
"Yes."
"Have you then turned gendarme?"
"No; but I am a patriot. A patriot belongs to his country. Now my country is horribly ravaged by this Chevalier, who forms plot upon plot. Well, my country commands me, being a patriot, to free her from this Chevalier de Maison-Rouge, who distresses her horribly, and I obey my country."