sistance.

The importance of arriving at the truth before Epernon and the greater
conspirators should take the alarm was so vividly present to the minds of
the king and myself, that we did not hesitate to examine the prisoners in
their house, rather than hazard the delay and observation which their
removal to a more fit place must occasion. Accordingly, taking the
precaution to post Coquet in the street outside, and to plant a burly
Swiss in the doorway, the king and I entered. I removed my mask as I did
so, being aware of the necessity of gaining the prisoners' confidence, but
I begged the king to retain his. As I had expected, the man immediately
recognized me and fell on his knees, a nearer view confirming the notion I
had previously entertained that his features were familiar to me, though I
could not remember his name. I thought this a good starting-point for my
examination, and bidding Maignan withdraw, I assumed an air of mildness
and asked the fellow his name.

"Martin, only, please your lordship," he answered; adding, "once I sold
you two dogs, sir, for the chase, and to your lady a lapdog called Ninette
no larger than her hand."

I remembered the knave, then, as a fashionable dog dealer, who had been
much about the court in the reign of Henry the Third and later; and I saw
at once how convenient a tool he might be made, since he could be seen in
converse with people of all ranks without arousing suspicion. The man's
face as he spoke expressed so much fear and surprise that I determined to
try what I had often found successful in the case of greater criminals, to
squeeze him for a confession while still excited by his arrest, and before
he should have had time to consider what his chances of support at the
hands of his confederates might be. I charged him therefore solemnly to
tell the whole truth as he hoped for the king's mercy. He heard me, gazing
at me piteously; but his only answer, to my surprise, was that he had
nothing to confess.

"Come, come," I replied sternly, "this will avail you nothing; if you do
not speak quickly, rogue, and to the point, we shall find means to compel
you. Who counseled you to attempt his majesty's life?"

On this he stared so stupidly at me, and exclaimed with so real an
appearance of horror: "How? I attempt the king's life? God forbid!" that I
doubted that we had before us a more dangerous rascal than I had thought,
and I hastened to bring him to the point.

"What, then,