"We can dispose of one, madame," Lenet replied, "and that is enough."
"Of what one, I pray to know?"
Madame de Tourville shuddered as she saw Lenet put his hand in his pocket.
"Monsieur d'Épernon's signature in blank!" cried the princess. "True; I had forgotten it."
"Bah! what does that amount to?" said Madame de Tourville, disdainfully. "A scrap of paper, nothing more."
"That scrap of paper, madame," said Lenet, "is the appointment we need as a counterpoise to the one recently made. It is a counterpoise to Île Saint-Georges; in fine, it is our salvation, for it means some place on the Dordogne, as Saint-Georges is on the Garonne."
"You are sure," said Claire, who had heard nothing for the last five minutes, and whose mind had remained stationary at the intelligence announced by Lenet and confirmed by Richon; "you are sure, monsieur, that it is the same Monsieur de Canolles who was arrested at Jaulnay, who is now governor of Île Saint-Georges?"
"I am sure of it, madame."
"Monsieur de Mazarin has a peculiar way," she continued, "of escorting his governors to their governments."