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"Well, my lord, as you will," he said sullenly "All the same I would

advise you to close the door and bolt and bar We shall not be the last

to call to-day" And he turned his horse in ill-huh the crowd

"Bolt and bar?" Tavannes cried after hi on the threshold, "Within there!" he cried "Open

the shutters and set lights, and the table! Light, I say; light! And

lay on quickly, if you value your lives! And throw open, for I sup with

your ht, if it rain blood without! Do you hearservants; then he turned again to

the street He saw that the croas hed aloud

"Does Monsieur sup with us?" he said "To complete the party? Or will

he choose to sup with our friends yonder? It is for him to say I

confess, for my part," with an awful smile, "their hospitality seenonville looked behind him and shuddered The same horde which had so

lately pressed about the door had found a victim lower down the street,

and, as Tavannes spoke, cahts and leaping, running figures, from the heart of which rose

the screams of a creature in torture So terrible were the sounds that

Tignonville leant half swooning against the door-post; and even the iron

heart of Tavannes seemed moved for a moment

For a moment only: then he looked at his companion, and his lip curled