"By petards."
"What the devil are you talking about?"
"The truth."
"Petards! Who is this belle that is taken with petards?"
"It is Mademoiselle Cahors."
"Mademoiselle Cahors!"
"Yes, a large and beautiful girl, who has one foot on the Got, and the other on the hills, and whose guardian is, or rather was, M. de Vesin, a brave gentleman of my acquaintance."
"Mordieu!" cried Henri, furiously, "my city! he has taken my city."
"Why, you see, Henri, you would not give it to him, and he was obliged to take it. But, apropos, here is a letter that he asked me to deliver into your own hand."
And Chicot, drawing out a letter, gave it to the king. It was the one Henri had written after taking Cahors, and it finished with these words: "Quod mihi dixisti profuit multum, cognosco meos devotos; nosce tuos; Chicotus cætera expediet."