"I was left bleeding in the kennel, and there I lay for nigh upon an hour
until a passer-by succoured me and carried out my request to be brought
hither and put to bed."
He ceased, and for some moments there was silence, broken only by the
wounded man's laboured breathing, which argued that his narrative had left
him fatigued. At last I sprang up.
"The Chevalier de Canaples must be warned," I exclaimed.
"'T is an ugly business," muttered Montr?sor. "I'll wager a hundred that
Mazarin will hang the Chevalier if he catches him just now."
"He would not dare!" cried Malpertuis.
"Not dare?" echoed the lieutenant. "The man who imprisoned the Princes of
Cond? and Conti, and the Duke of Beaufort, not dare hang a provincial
knight with never a friend at Court! Pah, Monsieur, you do not know
Cardinal Mazarin."
I realised to the full how likely Montr?sor's prophecy was to be fulfilled,
and before I left Malpertuis I assured him that he had not poured his story
into the ears of an indifferent listener, and that I would straightway find
means of communicating with Canaples.
CHAPTER XXI
OF THE BARGAIN THAT ST.
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