I waited a little, and then I groped my way to the door and knocked on it with the hilt of my sword. The dogs began to bark at the back, and the chorus of a drinking-song, which came fitfully from the east wing, ceased altogether. An inner door opened, and an angry voice, apparently an officer’s, began to rate someone for not coming. Another moment, and a clamour of voices and footsteps seemed to pour into the hall, and fill it. I heard the bar jerked away, the door was flung open, and in a twinkling a lanthorn, behind which a dozen flushed visages were dimly seen, was thrust into my face.
‘Why, who the fiend is this?’ one cried, glaring at me in astonishment.
‘MORBLEU! It is the man!’ another shrieked. ‘Seize him!’
In a moment half a dozen hands were laid on my shoulders, but I only bowed politely.
‘The officer, my friends,’ I said, ‘M. le Capitaine Larolle. ‘Where is he?’
‘DIABLE! but who are you, first?’ the lanthorn-bearer retorted bluntly. He was a tall, lanky sergeant, with a sinister face.
‘Well, I am not M. de Cocheforet,’ I replied; ‘and that must satisfy you, my man. For the rest, if you do not fetch Captain Larolle at once and admit me, you will find the consequences inconvenient.’
‘Ho! ho!’ he said with a sneer. ‘You can crow, it seems. Well, come in.’
They made way, and I walked into the hall keeping my hat on. On the great hearth a fire had been kindled, but it had gone out. Three or four carbines stood against one wall, and beside them lay a heap of haversacks and some straw. A shattered stool, broken in a frolic, and half a dozen empty wine-skins strewed the floor, and helped to give the place an air of untidiness and disorder. I looked round with eyes of disgust, and my gorge rose. They had spilled oil, and the place reeked foully.
‘VENTRE BLEU!’ I said. ‘Is this conduct in a gentleman’s house, you rascals? MA VIE! If I had you I would send half of you to the wooden horse!’