"It is a lie! He left my service a month back and I have never seen him since."
"Tell that to the judges," the captain said, as he had said to me. "I am not trying you. The handcuffs, men."
One of them produced a pair. Lucas struggled frantically in his captors' grasp. He dragged them from one end of the room to the other, calling down all the curses of Heaven upon them; but they snapped the handcuffs on for all that.
"If this is Mayenne's work—" he panted.
The officer caught nothing but the name Mayenne.
"The boy said you were a friend to his Grace, monsieur, but orders are orders. I have the warrant for your arrest from M. de Belin."
"At whose instigation?"
"How should I know'? I am a soldier of the guard. I have naught to do with it but to arrest you."
"Let me see the warrant."
"I am not obliged to. But I will, though. It may quiet your bluster."