"Shall I step into your boat, or do you prefer to come aboard mine, so that our boatmen may be out of ear-shot in the other boat?"
"Useless, monsieur; you speak some foreign tongue, no doubt?"
"I can speak Spanish."
"And I; let us talk in Spanish, then, if you please."
"By all means! What motive," continued the gentleman, adopting from that moment the idiom agreed upon, "led you to inform the Duc d'Épernon of the infidelity of the lady in question?"
"I was desirous to be of service to that eminent nobleman, and to get into his good graces."
"Have you any ill-will to Mademoiselle de Lartigues?"
"Ill-will? By no manner of means! On the contrary, I must admit that I am under some obligation to her, and I should be extremely sorry were any mishap to befall her."
"Then Monsieur le Baron de Canolles is your enemy?"