"What is going on then?"
"Have you ever heard of the abduction of the Duke of Mantua's secretary?"
"Of Matthioli?"——"Yes."
"Pardieu! I know the affair better than any one, for I saw them pass as they were conducting him to Pignerol. It was the Chevalier de Saint-Martin and Monsieur de Villebois who did it; and by this token they each had three thousand livres for themselves and their men."
"That was only middling pay," said D'Harmental, with a disdainful air.
"You think so, chevalier? Nevertheless three thousand livres is a nice little sum."
"Then for three thousand livres you would have undertaken it?"
"I would have undertaken it," answered the captain.
"But if instead of carrying off a secretary it had been proposed to you to carry off a duke?"
"That would have been dearer."