“Pardon me, monsieur, it is my humble wish that you accompany me to a carriage that stands hard by.”
“And how if I decline to come?”
Dr. Beauvais shrugged his shoulders.
“Monsieur will surely not oblige us to use force?”
Force? Oh, why had De Vaucluse refused him a sword? With that in his hand he would have faced the nine. But without a weapon he was entirely in their power. Good-bye now to his hopes of a duel with the Czar! He saw that some one, friendly to Alexander, had got to know of the coming fight, and, with a view of preventing it, had sent these men to carry him off.
“Use force,” he said, repeating the other’s words. “That may bring trouble upon you. I am here to meet the Czar by his special desire. Remove me, and you make a mock of his majesty.”
“It is because we know the nature of this intended meeting that we are here to prevent it.”
“You are prepared to face the Czar’s displeasure?”
“We are prepared to do the bidding of the person that sent us. Time presses; I must ask you to accompany me.”