VINTIMILLE. I demand their promise that no one shall be harmed.
BÉQUART. It costs us nothing to ask.
VINTIMILLE [smiling]. It costs nothing to promise. [He goes to DE FLUE.] Will you sign?
DE FLUE [as he signs]. Fine way to fight!—Well, it's not my affair.
VINTIMILLE. The difficulty is not in writing, but in making them read what we write. [The Pensioners, approaching the gate, are greeted by musket-shots.]
DE LAUNEY. They're desperate. They won't let any one come near.
BÉQUART. Give me the love-missive.
DE LAUNEY. You'll get killed, Béquart.
BÉQUART. What do I care? I'm not capitulating in order to save myself.
THE SWISS GUARDS. Why, then?