You would trouble him,
perhaps; and I really owe the fellow a debt of gratitude. It happened
upon the highway; he might have assassinated me without ceremony, but he
offered me open combat. Besides, he was wounded far more severely than
I."
All M. de Sairmeuse's doubts had returned.
"And why, instead of summoning a physician, are you attempting to dress
this wound yourself?"
"Because it is a mere trifle, and because I wish to keep it a secret."
The duke shook his head.
"All this is scarcely plausible," he remarked, "especially after the
assurance of your complicity, which I have received."
"Ah!" said he; "and from whom? From your spy-in-chief, no doubt--that
rascal Chupin. It surprises me to see that you can hesitate for a moment
between the word of your son and the stories of such a wretch."
"Do not speak ill of Chupin, Marquis; he is a very useful man. Had it
not been for him, we should have been taken unawares. It was through him
that I learned of this vast conspiracy organized by Lacheneur----"
"What! is it Lacheneur--"
"Who is at the head of the movement? yes, Marquis.
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