"Is absurd!" I repeated firmly. "After such treatment I have no resource but to withdraw M. le Capitaine from the field."
"Perhaps you will take his place," some one behind me said with a sneer.
I turned sharply. One of the two persons whom we had found with St. Alais was the speaker. I saluted him. "The surgeon?" I said.
"No," he answered angrily. "I am M. du Marc, and very much at your service."
"But not a second," I rejoined. "And, therefore, you have no right to be standing where you are, nor to be here. I must request you to withdraw."
"I have at least as much right as those," he answered, pointing to the roof of the Cathedral, over the battlements of which a number of heads could be seen peering down at us.
I stared.
"Our friends have at least as much right as yours," he continued, taunting me.
"But they do not interfere," I answered firmly. "Nor shall you. I request you to withdraw."
He still refused, and even tried to bluster; but this proved too much for Louis' stomach; he intervened sharply, and at a word from him the bully shrugged his shoulders and moved away. Then we four looked at one another.