"I know of no charge, your highness," answered Jean Charost. "I only know that while proceeding, according to the orders of my late beloved lord, to rejoin him at the Hôtel Barbette. I was seized by some men at one corner of the Rue Barbette, just as I was pausing to look at a house in flames, and at a crowd which I saw further down the street; that then, without almost any explanation, I was hurried to prison, and that this morning I have been brought hither, with these fetters on my limbs, which do not become an innocent French gentleman."
"It is right you should near the charge," answered the duke. "Is the man who first apprehended him here present?"
The tall, stout lackey of the queen, who had been the first to seize the young secretary's bridle, now bustled forward, full of his own importance, and related, not altogether without embellishment, his doings of the preceding night. He told how, on hearing from the flying servants of the Duke of Orleans that their lord had been attacked by armed men in the street, he had snatched up a halbert and run to his assistance; how he arrived too late, and then addressed himself to apprehend the murderers. He said that Jean Charost was not riding in any direction, but sitting on his horse quite still, as if he had been watching from a distance the deed just done; and that a gentleman of good repute, who had hastened, like himself, to give assistance, had pointed out the young secretary as one of the band of assassins, and even aided to apprehend him. He added various particulars of no great importance in regard to Jean Charost's manner and words, with the view of making out a case of strong suspicion against him.
"You hear the charge," said the Duke of Berri, when the man had ended; "what have you to say?"
"I might well answer nothing, your highness," replied Jean Charost; "for, so far as I can see, there is no charge against me, except that I checked my horse for an instant to look at a crowd and a house in flames. Nevertheless, if you will permit me, I will ask this man a question or two, as it may tend to bring some parts of this dark affair to light."
"Ask what you please," answered the duke; and Jean Charost turned to the servant, and demanded, it must be confessed, in a sharp tone, "Was the man who pointed me out to you armed or unarmed?"
"Completely armed, except the head," replied the lackey, looking a little confused.
"What had he in his hand?" demanded Jean Charost.
"A mace, I think," answered the man; "an iron mace."
"Did he tell you how he came completely armed in the streets of Paris at that hour of the night?" asked Jean Charost.