"I am a gentleman. I have substance. You shall be well rewarded."
"How came you in the river?"
"Heaven alone knows. I was stabbed in a fight in Basle. Rather tell me how I came here."
"I had a net stretched across from this side to the other," the man said. "The river narrows here and it is easy to get over. When the storms come, the great salmon trout and the pike come down from Rheinfelden. I thought I had two at the least, if not three, when I saw the net nearly torn off its ropes as it caught you."
"They threw me in the river then," Humphrey mused. "It must be so. Ah! if I live, gare à vous, La Truaumont, and you, Fleur de Mai. Heaven help you if we ever come face to face again or I live to reach the King." Then aloud, he said, "How far is this from Basle?"
"A kilometre. Opposite, across the river, is the Fort de Stein."
"A kilometre! I have been borne that far and I am alive! God, I thank Thee." Then turning to the man he said, "Is my wound serious? Have you looked to it?"
"Nein. I knew not even that you were wounded. Where is it?"
"Below my right shoulder. Through the lung, I fear."
"Rese," the man said to his daughter. "Assist me to remove the gentleman's garments."