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His blade leaped forward, made sudden swift movements which the bravo strove in vain to parry, and then Æsop dropped his sword and fell heavily upon the grass. He was dead, dead of the thrust in the face, exactly between the eyes, the thrust of Nevers. Lagardere leaned over his dead enemy and smiled.
Hatred and despair struggled there for mastery hatred and despair, and the hideous sense of hopeless, ignominious, public failure after a lifetime of triumphant crime. "Louis!" cried the king again. "Louis! Assassin!" In a moment Gonzague's sword was unsheathed, and he leaped across the space that divided him from Lagardere, striking furiously for Lagardere's heart.
Lagardere advanced to Chavernay, who stared in astonishment at the presumption of the gypsy fellow a gypsy fellow that carried a sword under his mantle. "That young girl is under my care, little gentleman," Lagardere said, mockingly.
If, therefore, it was soon plain to him that the boast of the hunchback was true enough, and that his skill with his weapon had greatly bettered in the years that had elapsed since their previous encounter, Lagardere was rejoiced to find it so, as it gave a greater difficulty and a greater honor to his achievement.
"Ungentlemanly," he protested, and then addressed Nevers: "Well, duke, we can manage ten apiece easily." He turned to the boy and gave him some quick instructions. "Creep through the wood behind the castle to the highway. Run like the devil to the cross-roads, where my men wait. Tell them Lagardere is in danger. They may be here in a quarter of an hour."
The hunchback made an appeal to Gonzague. "Highness, humor my jest to the end. I have kept my real name a secret long enough; let me keep it secret a little longer. Will you and your friends honor me by signing as witnesses? Then I will fill in the blanks and set down my own name a name that will make you laugh." Oriol gave a grin. "Æsop is comic enough." Lagardere nodded to him.
Nevers cried, exulting, as he waved his conquering sword and looked in vain for an antagonist. "I am here!" repeated the shadow behind him, mockingly, and thrust his weapon deep into the victor's side. Nevers reeled before the suddenness and sureness of the stroke, and fell on his knees to the ground with a great cry that startled Lagardere and stayed him in his triumph.
There was a little pause, and then Æsop, who had by this time been released from the embrace of Cocardasse, and had sheathed his sword, came forward and faced Lagardere. "I desire acquaintanceship, Captain Lagardere. Men call me Æsop." Lagardere gazed at the hunchback, and a look of displeasure banished the mirth from his eyes. "I have heard of you," he said, curtly. "A good sword and a bad heart.
Gabrielle answered instantly: "Yes, for that life or any life with you." Lagardere protested: "Ah, but without me." Gabrielle's graceful being seemed to stiffen a little, and her words gave an absolute decision: "Nothing without you, Henri." Lagardere seemed to tempt the girl with his next speech: "Those women you saw had palaces, had noble kinsfolk, had mothers "
Gonzague questioned again: "Is it to your interest that Lagardere should die?" "Indeed, yes," the hunchback answered. "Has he not sworn to kill every man who attacked Nevers that night? Has he not kept his word well? I am the last that is left I and Monsieur Peyrolles, for, of course, I except your Excellence. I promise you I will find him, but I shall need help." "Help?" Gonzague echoed.
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