'Yes—but it was fought within the precincts of the Palais Royale.'
'Zounds!' said Raynold Cheyne, twisting his fierce moustache, 'in the days of Henry the Great, we might have fought in his bed-chamber, and I am sure the brave Bearnais would have enjoyed the sport.'
'And what was the duel about?' I asked.
'Oh! the old story—a girl—a fleuriste on the Pont de Notre Dame.'
'And the chevalier was killed?'
'Run right through the body,' replied Gordon; 'and the Cardinal, at the instance of Marion, whose lover M. le Chevalier had formerly been, sent his Lordship to the Bastille.'
'Too bad this!' exclaimed the Viscount; 'my Lord Teviot could not help this sprig of a chevalier not being immortal. But why has a Cardinal all this power?'
'Because he is a minister, and since the days of Henry IV. France has always been governed by ministers or—their mistresses.'
Sir Quentin Home whose circumstances had been somewhat desperate since he killed the English captain at Berwick, now proposed cards.
'Let us play, gentlemen,' said he; 'Blane, we will draw lots for partners.'