‘I hold a warrant for your arrest,’ he replied bluntly. ‘Resistance will be vain. If you do not surrender I shall send for a ram to break in the door.’
‘Where is your order?’ I said sharply. ‘The one you held this morning was cancelled by the king himself.’
‘Suspended only,’ he answered. ‘Suspended only. It was given out to me again this evening for instant execution. And I am here in pursuance of it, and call on you to surrender.’
‘Who delivered it to you?’ I retorted.
‘M. de Villequier,’ he answered readily. ‘And here it is. Now, come, sir,’ he continued, ‘you are only making matters worse. Open to us.’
‘Before I do so,’ I said drily, ‘I should like to know what part in the pageant my friend M. de Bruhl, whom I see on the stairs yonder, proposes to play. And there is my old friend Fresnoy,’ I added. ‘And I see one or two others whom I know, M. Provost. Before I surrender I must know among other things what M. de Bruhl’s business is here.’
‘It is the business of every loyal man to execute the king’s warrant,’ the Provost answered evasively. ‘It is yours to surrender, and mine to lodge you in the Castle. ‘But I am loth to have a disturbance. I will give you until that torch goes out, if you like, to make up your mind. At the end of that time, if you do not surrender, I shall batter down the door.’
‘You will give the torch fair play?’ I said, noting its condition.
He assented; and thanking him sternly for this indulgence, I closed the grille.