"Revenge!" answered the old man, and bowed his head lower over his staff.
"Revenge! Hah! I can understand that. Revenge on someone in La Roque?"
"On someone who is not there now, but who will be there on the night that I admit you."
"And you ask me to revenge your wrong."
"I will do that for myself, Messire—only I can do nothing now. I am prepared to admit you within the walls of the town. I can do better than that—I will give you access to the castle—the town without the castle is nothing. The castle in itself is nothing. But the castle commands the town."
"Hah! let us in, within the walls of La Roque, and we will soon have the castle."
"You think that, Messire? You are mistaken. The castle is victualled for three months. There is a well in it that never runs dry. There is a garrison under the Sieur François de Bonaldi, brother of the Bishop. If you took the town with my help, it would be cracking the nut and not getting the kernel. From the castle they could rain down rocks on you, and if you attempted to hold the town they would dislodge you, though it might ruin the houses. No—the town without the castle is an eyeball without the iris. Take the castle and the town is yours."
"You may be right," said Le Gros Guillem, after a pause.
"I am positive I am right," said the old man, looking up and dropping his eyes again.
"What, then, do you propose?"