“And where is this message from?” he continued.

“From Marsan, Monsieur.”

“And you are?”

“Paul de Marsan, Monsieur.”

He looked at me yet a moment, his eyes glittering behind their veil of lashes like snakes in ambush.

“Very well,” he said abruptly. “Give me this message. I will deliver it to M. le Comte.”

And he held out his hand.

“Impossible, Monsieur,” I answered. “I was instructed to deliver it only to M. le Comte himself.”

Again he paused to look me up and down, and I saw the hot color of the south leap to his cheeks.

“Perhaps you do not know that I am the Vicomte d’Aurilly,” he sneered at last.