In the mean time the poor prisoner remained in some doubt and anxiety. Imprisonment, solitude, and low diet had gone some way to tame the wild bird, and the uncertainty of the last hour had been very heavy. He had fancied that the words he had heard spoken by the wounded man and his companion would produce an immediate change; but, as minute after minute passed by and nothing indicated any better treatment, he began to despond. At length, however, he heard the tramp of feet and the jingle of spurs, and a man with a torch opened the door, admitting Monsieur de Boulogne and one or two attendants.
"Young gentleman," said the old nobleman, with a reproving but fatherly air, "you have been acting very rashly and impetuously toward the count my son-in-law."
"And how has he been acting toward me, sir?" asked Edward, in a more respectful tone than he had used in speaking to the younger man.
"Somewhat harshly, I am afraid," said the other, looking round him: "he could not have known the state of this place, or he would not have put you here."
"What right had he to put me in a dungeon at all?" asked Edward.
"Why, you shot and nearly killed one of his attendants," was the reply.
"Not at all," answered Edward. "You are deceived, sir. I shot an attendant of Lord Montagu whom I caught in the act of betraying his master. Ask his lordship—ask the man himself or his brother—if they had not both taken service with my lord and received his money."
The old gentleman smiled. "That puts a new face upon the matter," he said. "But let us leave recriminations. I wish to smooth matters down between you and my fiery relative. You say you have a safe-conduct from his Eminence of Richelieu. Let me see it."
"On the sole condition, sir, that you restore it to me at once," said Edward, putting his hand into a pocket in the breast of his coat and taking out the passport in its velvet case.
"Let me examine it," said Monsieur de Boulogne. "Do not fear. You shall have it again in a moment."