'I was on the side of the League.'
'Monsieur, the League died at Ivry——'
'But not for us.'
He made an impatient gesture. 'We won't discuss that. Are you not the man I refer to? Say yes or no.'
'I am d'Auriac—there is no other of my name—but no more a rebel or traitor than Messieurs de Guise, de Mayenne, and others. The King's Peace has pardoned us all. Why should I fear to come to you? I have come to do you a service, or rather the King a service.'
'Thank you. May I ask if you did not receive a warning at La Fère, and another at Bidache?'
'From M. d'Ayen—yes. Monseigneur, I refuse to believe what I heard.'
'And yet your name heads a list of half a dozen whom the King's Peace does not touch. One of my reasons for receiving you was to have you arrested.'
'It is a high honour, all this bother about a poor gentleman of Normandy, when Guise, de Mayenne, Epernon, and others keep their skins whole.'
'You have flown your hawk at too high a quarry, monsieur.'