Take it, Madame
Bonaventure" he continued, handing her the paper. "It is your full
acquittance."
"And think you, my lord, that this shallow artifice--to give it no
harsher term--will avail you any thing?" Sir Giles cried scornfully. "I
set it aside at once."
"Your pardon, Sir Giles; you will do no such thing."
"And who will hinder me?--You, my lord?"
"Even I, Sir Giles. Proceed at your peril."
The young nobleman's assurance staggered his opponent.
"He must have some one to uphold him, or he would not be thus
confident," he thought. "Whose was the voice I heard? It sounded
like--No matter! 'Tis needful to be cautious."
"You do not, then, hold yourself bound by the acts of your partner, Sir
Giles?" Lord Roos said.
"I deny this to be his act," the knight replied.
"Better question him at once on the subject," Lord Roos said. "Set him
free, Cyprien."
The Gascon did as he was bidden, and with the aid of his fellow drawers,
helped Sir Francis from the table. To the surprise of the company, the
knight then managed to stagger forward unassisted, and would have
embraced Sir Giles, if the latter had not thrust him off in disgust,
with some violence.
"What folly is this, Sir Francis?" Sir Giles cried angrily. "You have
forgotten yourself strangely, you have taken leave of your senses,
methinks!"
"Not a whit of it, Sir Giles--not a whit. I never was more my own master
than I am at present, as I will prove to you."
"Prove it, then, by explaining how you came to sign that paper.
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