"Hush; be silent," interrupted Julian; "tell no human being who I am. Whatever happens keep my name a secret. Do you hear? an entire secret from every one!"
"We do our duty," said the sergeant, "and nobody can punish us for that; you may go to a prison yourself; we have often had fellows speak as high, and threaten as fiercely; forward!"
"Men! take advice; he is a distinguished man at court."
"If it were a king himself he should go with us. He is a suspicious character, and we must do our duty."
While the contest about the Prince went on, a carriage, with eight horses and outriders, bearing flambeaux, drove past the church.
"Stop!" said a voice from the carriage, as it was passing the crowd of policemen who had the Prince in custody.
The carriage stopped. The door flew open, and a gentleman, with a brilliant star on the breast of his surtout, leaped out. He pushed through the party, and examined the Prince from head to foot.
"I thought," he said, "I knew the bird by his feathers. Mask, who are you?"
Julian was taken by surprise, for in the inquirer he recognized Duke
Herrman.
"Answer me," roared Herrman in a voice of thunder.