"You forget your
manners: familiarity"--he glanced towards the couch--"has bred--"
"Coward!" I cried. "I will kill you at her feet."
"Come, then," he answered, and stepped away from the door,
drawing his sword, "since you will have it here. But if I kill you,
as I intend--"
He smiled detestably, and motioned towards the couch, then
turned to the door again as if to lock it. I stepped between, my
sword at guard. At that the door opened. A woman came in quickly,
and closed it behind her. She passed me, and faced Doltaire.
It was Madame Cournal. She was most pale, and there was a peculiar
wildness in her eyes.
"You have deposed Francois Bigot," she said.
"Stand back, madame; I have business with this fellow," said
Doltaire, waving his hand.
"My business comes first," she replied. "You--you dare to depose
Francois Bigot!"
"It needs no daring," he said nonchalantly.
"You shall put him back in his place."
"Come to me to-morrow morning, dear madame."
"I tell you he must be put back, Monsieur Doltaire."
"Once you called me Tinoir," he said meaningly.
Without a word she caught from her cloak a dagger and struck him
in the breast, though he threw up his hand and partly diverted the
blow. Without a cry he half swung round, and sank, face forward,
against the couch where Alixe lay.
Raising himself feebly, blindly, he caught her hand and kissed
it; then he fell back.
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