“No one but yourselves, monsieur.”
“You are certain?”
“Perfectly certain, monsieur?”
“How long have you been on duty?”
“Over three hours, monsieur.”
Here was a facer for the regent.
“Come,” I heard him exclaim, suddenly, “perhaps the other has not returned. I do not doubt that it was he who was with Richelieu.”
I was back on my bench in an instant. The door opened, and I lifted my head as from a heavy sleep. I saw Maison-Rouge on the threshold carrying a lantern, and back of him the regent. I was on my feet with a bound.
“It appears to me that your prisoners sleep with suspicious soundness, Maison-Rouge,” said the regent, pushing past him into the room. He glanced about it keenly, went to the window and shook the bars, but found nothing suspicious.
“How does it happen,” he asked, “that the window here has only single bars, while those of the floors below have double ones?”