ound, and
had his hand upon his chin before Gerard and I could seize him by the
arms. We were three strong men, but he was as strong as all of us put
together, for again and again he shook himself free, and again and again
we got our grip upon him once more. But he was losing blood fast.
Every instant his huge strength ebbed away. With a supreme effort he
staggered to his feet, the three of us hanging on to him like hounds on
to a bear. Then, with a shout of rage and despair which thundered
through the whole castle, his knees gave way under him, and he fell in a
huge inert heap upon the floor, his black beard bristling up towards the
ceiling. We all stood panting round, ready to spring upon him if he
should move; but it was over. He was dead.

Savary, deadly pale, was leaning with his hand to his side against the
table. It was not for nothing that those mighty arms had been thrown
round him.

'I feel as if I had been hugged by a bear,' said he. 'Well, there is
one dangerous man the less in France, and the Emperor has lost one of
his enemies. And yet he was a brave man too!'

'What a soldier he would have made!' said Gerard thoughtfully. 'What a
quartermaster for the Hussars of Bercheny! He must have been a very
foolish person to set his will against that of the Emperor.'

I had seated myself, sick and dazed, upon the settee, for scenes of
bloodshed were new to me then, and this one had been enough to shock the
most hardened. Savary gave us all a little cognac from his flask, and
then tearing down one of the curtains he laid it over the terrible
figure of my Uncle Bernac.

'We can do nothing here,' said he. 'I must get back and report to the
Emperor as soon as possible. But all these papers of Bernac's must be
seized, for many of them bear upon this and other conspiracies.' As he
spoke he gathered together a number of documents which were scattered
about the table--among the others a letter which lay before him upon the
desk, and which he had apparently just finished at the time of Toussac's
irruption.

'Hullo, what's this?' said Savary, glancing over it. 'I fancy that our
friend Bernac was a dangerous man also. "My dear Catulle--I beg of you
to send me by the very first mail another phial of the same tasteless
essence which you sent three years ago. I mean the almond decoction
which leaves no traces. I have particular reasons for wanting it in the
course of next week, so I implore you not to de