Barra rose at his entrance and remained standing.
"Pray sit down," said the prince to him, "and proceed with your conversation with these gentlemen of your country."
"I was about," said Barra, deferentially, "to commit to prison this soldier of the Douglas Dragoon regiment for a most insolent slander concerning myself, and also for collecting information as to the condition of our forces with intent to communicate it to the enemy. There is, indeed, an officer of the King of France with the man at this very moment, but in disguise."
The prince turned his bright keen eyes upon Wat and Scarlett in turn.
"And you, sir! what have you to say?" he asked, quietly.
Whereupon, nothing daunted, Wat told his plain tale, and showed the order which he had received from Sergeant Davie Dunbar, signed with Barra's name.
"I never wrote the order, and never heard of it," said Barra, who stood, calmly contemptuous, at the prince's elbow.
"Call Sergeant David Dunbar!" ordered the prince.
It was a few minutes before that stanch soldier arrived. In the mean time, the prince turned his attention to Scarlett.
"You are an officer of the King of France?" he said, with an ominous gleam in his eye as he spoke of his arch-enemy.