"It is quite simple. I purpose to get speech with mademoiselle if I can contrive it, and I think I can. I purpose to smuggle her out of the Hôtel de Lorraine—such feats have been accomplished before and may be again. Then I shall bring her here and hold her against all comers."
"No," Vigo said, "no, monsieur. You may not do that."
"Ventre bleu, Vigo!" his young lord cried.
"No," said Vigo. "I can't have her here, and Mayenne's army after her."
"Coward!" shouted M. Étienne.
I thought Vigo would take us both by the scruff of our necks and throw us out of the place. But he answered undisturbed:
"No, that is not the reason, monsieur. If M. le Duc told me to hold this house against the armies of France and Spain, I'd hold it till the last man of us was dead. But I am here in his absence to guard his hôtel, his moneys, and his papers. I don't call it guarding to throw a firebrand among them. Bringing Mayenne's niece here would be worse than that."
"Monsieur would never hesitate! Monsieur is no chicken-heart!" M. Étienne cried. "If he were here, he'd say, 'We'll defend the lady if every stone in this house is pulled from its fellow!'"
A twinkle came into Vigo's eyes.
"I think that is likely true," he said. "Monsieur opposed the marriage as long as Mayenne desired it; but now that Mayenne forbids it, stealing the demoiselle is another pair of sleeves."