"It is all the same," said Maurice; "but it is singular that you should be charged with this commission."
"I am not charged; I charge myself, or rather, I should say, I solicited the commission. It required a brilliant stroke to reinstate us in our former position; while our re-establishment will not only prove security for our lives, but still more the right of putting, at the very first opportunity offered, six inches of steel into the belly of that hideous Simon."
"But how are they sure it was the Chevalier who was the instigator of this subterranean plot?"
"They are not yet certain, but they presume so."
"You proceed, then, upon inference?"
"No; we proceed by certainty."
"How do you make out all this?"
"Listen."
"I am listening."