"That is a very generous recompense for what little I have been able to do," said Lignières, bowing modestly.
"You know that we are not ungrateful, Monsieur de Lignières," continued the lieutenant. "But come, you have not told us everything, have you? Did they fix a time, or a place of rendezvous?"
"They are to meet in the neighborhood of Blois on the 15th of March," replied Lignières.
"The 15th of March! Well, well!" exclaimed Monsieur de Braguelonne. "We have only twenty days before us, and Monsieur le Cardinal de Lorraine is at Blois! It will take about two days to notify him and receive his orders. What a responsibility!"
"But what a triumph at the end!" said Démocharès.
"Have you the names of the leaders, dear Monsieur de Lignières?" asked the lieutenant.
"Yes, I have them written down," was the reply.
"What a jewel of a man!" exclaimed Démocharès, admiringly. "He helps to reconcile me to human nature."
Lignières unbuttoned an inner pocket in his doublet, and drew from it a scrap of paper, and having unfolded it, he read aloud as follows:—
"List of the leaders, with the names of the provinces which they respectively command:—
"Castelnau de Chalosses,—Gascogne.
"Mazères,—Béarn.
"Du Mesnil,—Périgord.
"Maillé de Brézé,—Poitou.
"La Chesnaye,—Maine.
"Sainte-Marie,—Normandie.
"Cocqueville,—Picardie.
"De Ferrières-Maligny,—Île de France and Champagne.
"Châteauvieux,—Provence, etc.