'To expel six noble gentlemen from their homes for laying hands on an unknown adventurer? Fie, Monseigneur! Your estimate of my reasoning powers must of a truth be a very low one.'
'You have gravely erred against the laws of hospitality.'
'I am prepared to lick the dust in my abasement.'
'You have offended a stranger who was my guest.'
'I will offer him my abject excuses, tell him that I mistook him for a caitiff.'
'He would not accept your excuses.'
'Is he such a high and mighty prince as all that?' retorted de Landas.
It was an arrow shot into the air, but it evidently hit the mark, for d'Inchy had winced at the taunt.
'M. le Prince de Froidmont has been too gravely affronted,' he said stiffly, 'for excuses to be of any avail.'
'Let me try them, at any rate,' riposted de Landas, almost servilely now.