M. de Biron relaxed the fixity of his gaze. “But you said that you had an object?” he returned.

“I had—in being the bearer of the message.”

“What was it?”

“My object? To learn two things.”

“The first, if it please you?” The Grand Master’s chin stuck out a little, as he spoke.

“Have you in the Arsenal a M. de Tignonville, a gentleman of Poitou?”

“I have not,” Biron answered curtly. “The second?”

“Have you here a Huguenot minister?”

“I have not. And if I had I should not give him up,” he added firmly.

Tavannes shrugged his shoulders. “I have a use for one,” he said carelessly. “But it need not harm him.”