‘Yes, two men. One, the man who captured me; the other, the man who let my friend go free to-day.’
‘It surprised you that I let him go? That was prudence, M. de Cocheforet,’ I replied. ‘I am an old gambler. I know when the stakes are too high for me. The man who caught a lion in his wolf-pit had no great catch.’
‘No, that is true,’ he answered smiling, ‘And yet—I find two men in your skin.’
‘I daresay that there are two in most men’s skins,’ I answered with a sigh. ‘But not always together. Sometimes one is there, and sometimes the other.’
‘How does the one like taking up the other’s work?’ he asked keenly.
I shrugged my shoulders. ‘That is as may be,’ I said. ‘You do not take an estate without the debts.’
He did not answer for a moment, and I fancied that his thoughts had reverted to his own case. But on a sudden he looked at me again. ‘Will you answer a question, M. de Berault?’ he said winningly.
‘Perhaps,’ I replied.
‘Then tell me—it is a tale I am sure worth the telling. What was it that, in a very evil hour for me, sent you in search of me?’
‘My Lord Cardinal,’ I answered