e, and I never go even
that short distance without a guard, but it is much more difficult to
protect you."

"I have my own bodyguard, your excellency--four stout Scotch soldiers
and my lackey, Paolo, who is a good swordsman also; and as it does not
seem to me that I should be safer elsewhere than here, I shall at any
rate stay for a time. I should imagine that the warning was a general
one. They have just found out that I had a hand in thwarting their plot
against you, and I dare say used threats; but the threats of angry men
come very often to nothing; and at any rate, I do not choose that they
should obtain the satisfaction of driving me from Paris against my
will."

The cardinal shook his head. "You see, monsieur, that Beaufort is a man
who hesitates at nothing. A scrupulous person would hardly endeavour to
slay a cardinal, who is also the minister of France, in the streets of
Paris in broad daylight. He is capable of burning down the Pome d'Or,
and all within it, in order to obtain revenge on you. I feel very uneasy
about you. However, sleep may bring counsel, and we will talk it over
again in the morning."

"Have you thought of anything, Monsieur Campbell?" Mazarin asked when
they met in the morning.

"I have not, sir, save to go on trusting to my own sword and my
followers."

"I can think of nothing," the cardinal said, "save to send an order to
Turenne for two companies of your regiment to march hither, where, on
their arrival, you will receive orders to proceed with them to your
castle of la Villar, and to use them in the king's service in repressing
all troubles that may occur in Poitou. What say you to that?"

"I would not deprive her majesty of two hundred of her best soldiers
to guard me from what may not be after all a very real danger. My own
conclusions, after thinking it over this morning, are that I will remain
here for a time, trusting to my friends and my own sword. If a serious
attempt is made on my life I could then consider whether it would be
best to withdraw myself, and if so, whither to go; but I will not run
away merely on a vague hint that my life is in danger. I have faced
death in battle many times, and this danger can hardly be considered
as more serious. I imagine that in the first case some of the
duke's followers will force me into a duel, before proceeding to try
assassination, and although doubtless he has some good blades among his
friends, I do not think that I need to feel u