"Pardon, monsieur!" said Simon, respectfully enough.
"Do you understand me? Come, now, what authority had you for arresting my nephew? You are going to find it was a serious mistake. Be off with you, and let him alone in the future."
"I know all about that, monsieur," Simon answered coolly. "Your nephew is lucky enough to have a loyal father, who can pull him out of his scrapes. Your nephew has plenty of friends—but even his connections won't save him, I think, if he is mixed up in this new plot of yours. I must search your house at once, if you please."
"What do you mean, you scoundrel? You will not search my house," said Monsieur Joseph, fiercely.
"By order, monsieur."
"Whose order? The Prefect's? Show it me."
"Pardon! There has not been time to apply to Monsieur le Préfet. We have intelligence of a plot, hatched here in your house, a plan for a rising. We know that certain gentlemen are starting this very morning on a mission to England, to bring back arms and men. They will be caught—are caught already, no doubt—at their rendezvous. There was not time to go to Sonnay for orders and warrants; we had to strike while the iron was hot. We applied to General Ratoneau, who was at the ball at Lancilly. He not only gave us authority to search your house for arms and conspirators—he accompanied us himself. He is there, beyond the wood, with enough men to enter your house by force, if you refuse to let us enter peaceably."
For a moment Monsieur Joseph said nothing. Simon grinned as well as his stiff and aching head would let him, as he watched the little gentleman's expressive face.
"We have got them, Monsieur le Général!" he said to himself. He added aloud and insolently: "An unpleasant experience for the young gentleman, so soon after his wedding, but a final warning, I imagine. If he comes free and happy out of this, he will have done with Chouannerie!"
"Silence!" said Monsieur Joseph. "If you want conspirators, there is one here, and that is myself. I will go to Sonnay with you—though your accusations are ridiculous, and there is no plan for a rising. But I will not allow you to search my house, if there were ten generals and an army behind the wood there. I will shoot down any one who attempts it."