"Thanks, Gaston," said the duke, smiling, "I will repay your devotion by your happiness."
"I, happy, through your highness! Ah! monseigneur, God revenges himself in permitting you to return me so much good for the evil I intended you."
The regent smiled at this effusion of simple joy, when the door opened and gave entrance to a green domino.
"Captain la Jonquiere!" cried Gaston.
"Dubois!" murmured the duke, frowning.
"Monseigneur," said Gaston, hiding his face in his hands, pale with affright; "monseigneur, I am lost. It is no longer I who must be saved. I forgot my honor, I forgot my friends."
"Your friends, monsieur?" said the duke, coldly. "I thought you no longer made common cause with such men."
"Monseigneur, you said I had a noble heart; believe me when I say that Pontcalec, Montlouis, Du Couëdic, and Talhouet have hearts as noble as my own."
"Noble!" repeated the duke, contemptuously.
"Yes, monseigneur, I repeat what I said."