At last, "I bear a message," the man announced loudly and clearly, "for the lady of Vrillac. Is she present?"
"Give your message!" La Tribe replied.
"It is for her ears only."
"Do you want to enter?"
"No!" The man answered so hurriedly that more than one smiled. He had the bearing of a lay clerk of some precinct, a verger or sacristan; and after a fashion the dress of one also, for he was in dusty black and wore no sword, though he was girded with a belt. "No!" he repeated, "but if Madame will come to the gate, and speak to me----"
"Madame has other fish to fry," Carlat blurted out. "Do you think that she has naught to do but listen to messages from a gang of bandits?"
"If she does not listen she will repent it all her life!" the fellow answered hardily. "That is part of my message."
There was a pause while La Tribe considered the matter. In the end, "From whom do you come?" he asked.
"From His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor of Saumur," the envoy answered glibly, "and from my lord Bishop of Angers, him assisting by his Vicar; and from others gathered lawfully, who will as lawfully depart if their terms are accepted. Also from M. de Tignonville, a gentleman, I am told, of these parts, now in their hands and adjudged to die at sunset this day if the terms I bring be not accepted."
There was a long silence on the gate. The men looked down fixedly; not a feature of one of them moved, for no one was surprised. "Wherefore is he to die!" La Tribe asked at last.