"You're invited now."
"Thanks. Consider me a follower, or rather a dragoman, to use the eastern term."
Then he said to Antoine in French:
"Mademoiselle Lannes is resolved to remain tonight in Chastel. She thinks that if her brother were to come her absence would upset all his plans."
Picard nodded. His was the soul of loyalty.
"It is right," he said. "It is here that Monsieur Philip expects to find her and we can guard her."
John liked the inclusive "we."
"And now to work, Antoine and Suzanne," he said. "We've agreed that we can't spend the night in the cathedral. Perhaps there is no better refuge so far as the storm is concerned, but a pew is not a good bed, except for hardened old soldiers like you and me, Antoine."
"No, Mr. Scott, it is not."
"Then I suggest that we leave Mademoiselle Lannes and Suzanne here while we look for shelter."