the Parliament of Toulouse, the Judge of the High
Court, and other councillors, all gentlemen of consideration. It
has been my misfortune to have had to treat these gentlemen with
scant courtesy, but the circumstances left me no choice.

"Monsieur de Merouville, here is a document, signed by these nine
gentlemen, giving a solemn undertaking that you and Madame shall
be, in future, permitted to reside in your chateau without the
slightest let or hindrance; and that you shall suffer no
molestation, whatever, either on account of this affair, or on the
question of religion. I have a duplicate of this document; and
have, on my part, given an undertaking that, if its terms are
broken I will, at whatever inconvenience to myself, return to this
neighbourhood, hang these ten gentlemen if I can catch them, and at
any rate burn their chateaux to the ground. Therefore I think, as
you have their undertaking and mine, you can without fear return
home; but this, of course, I leave to yourself to decide.

"Gentlemen, you are now free to return to your homes; and I trust
this lesson--that we, on our part, can strike, if necessary--will
have some effect in moderating your zeal for persecution."

Without a word, the president and his companions walked away in a
body. The troopers began to jeer and laugh, but Philip held up his
hand for silence.

"There need be no extra scorn," he said. "These gentlemen have been
sufficiently humiliated."

"And you really fetched all these good gentlemen from their beds,"
D'Arblay said, bursting into a fit of laughter. "Why, it was worth
being taken prisoner, were it only for the sake of seeing them.
They looked like a number of old owls, suddenly disturbed by
daylight--some of them round eyed with astonishment, some of them
hissing menacingly. By my faith, Philip, it will go hard with you,
if you ever fall into the hands of those worthies.

"But a truce to jokes. We owe you our lives, Philip; of that there
is not a shadow of doubt. Though I have no more fear than another
of death in battle, I own that I have a dread of being tortured and
burned. It was a bold stroke, thus to carry off the men who have
been the leaders of the persecution against us."

"There was nothing in the feat, if it can be called a feat," Philip
said. "Of course, directly we heard that you had been seized and
carried into Toulouse, I cast about for the best means to save you.
To attempt it by force would have been simple m