"Hush, no other names! Perenna's enough for me . . . . Besides, we won't talk about me, if you don't mind. I was just a chance, a gentleman who happened to drop in at the right moment. Whereas you . . . by Jove, youngster, but you've done jolly well! . . . So you spent the night in the boat?"
"Yes, under the tarpaulin, lashed to the bottom and tightly gagged."
"Not at all. I hadn't been there ten minutes when All's Well appeared. So . . ."
"But the man, the scoundrel: what had he threatened to do to you?"
"Nothing. After the duel, while the others were attending to my opponent, he brought me down here, pretending that he was going to take me to mother and put us both on board the boat. Then, when we got to the boat, he laid hold of me without a word."
"Do you know the man? Do you know his name?"
"I know nothing about him. All I can say is that he was persecuting us, mother and me."
"For reasons which I shall explain to you, François. In any case, you have nothing to fear from him now."
"Oh, but you haven't killed him?"