"Do you believe we are a dozen men staunch and able?"
"We are eight or nine, any way."
"Well, I will return to my hussars. While I attack the barriers in front, you storm them in the rear. By favor of your diversion, I will force through, and with our united forces we will reach this spot where we will extricate the King."
They held out their hands to him by way of answer.
"In an hour," said Charny to the King and Queen, "you shall be free, or I dead."
"Oh, count, do not say that word," said she, "it causes me too much pain."
George bowed in confirmation of his vow, and stepped towards the door without being appalled by the fresh uproar in the street.
But as he laid his hand on the knob, it flew open and gave admission to a new character who mingled directly in the already complicated plot of the drama.
This was a man in his fortieth year; his countenance was dark and forbidding; his collar open at the throat, his unbuttoned coat, the dust on his clothes, and his eyes red with fatigue, all indicated that he had ridden far and fast under the goad of fierce feeling.
He carried a brace of pistols in his sash girdle and a sabre hung by his side.