indignant; better men than you have been dragged
from their homes, to prison and death, by your orders. Now it is
your turn to be a prisoner.

"I might, if I chose, set fire to this chateau, and cut the throats
of all in it; but we do not murder in the name of God. We leave
that to you.

"Take this man away with you, Eustace. I give him into your charge.
If he struggles, or offers the least resistance, stab him to the
heart."

"You will at least give me time to dress, sir?" the president said.

"Not a moment," Philip replied. "The night is warm, and you will do
very well, as you are.

"As for you," he went on, turning to the servants, "you will remain
quiet until morning; and if any of you dare to leave the house, you
will be slain without mercy. You can assure your mistress that she
will not be long without the society of your master; for in all
probability he will be returned, safe and sound, before midday
tomorrow. One of you may fetch your master's cloak, since he seems
to fear the night air."

The doors were opened and they issued out, Philip bidding the
servants close and bar them behind them. When they reached the
horses, the prisoner was handed over to D'Arblay's lackey, who
placed the noose round his neck, and gave him warning as Philip had
instructed him. Then they set off, Pierre with the guide again
leading the way.

Before morning they had ten prisoners in their hands. In one or two
cases the servants had attempted opposition, but they were speedily
overpowered, and the captures were all effected without loss of
life. The party then moved away about a mile, and the prisoners
were allowed to sit down. Several of them were elderly men, and
Philip picked these out, by the light of two torches they had
brought from the last house, and ordered the ropes to be removed
from their necks.

"I should regret, gentlemen," he said, "the indignity that I have
been forced to place upon you, had you been other than you are. It
is well, however, that you should have felt, though in a very
slight degree, something of the treatment that you have all been
instrumental in inflicting upon blameless men and women, whose only
fault was that they chose to worship God in their own way. You may
thank your good fortune at having fallen into the hands of one who
has had no dear friends murdered in the prisons of Toulouse. There
are scores of men who would have strung you up without mercy,
thinking it a righteous retributi