counsel, and we will talk it over again in the morning."

"Have you thought of anything, Monsieur Campbell?" Mazarin asked
when they met in the morning.

"I have not, sir, save to go on trusting to my own sword and my
followers."

"I can think of nothing," the cardinal said, "save to send an order
to Turenne for two companies of your regiment to march hither,
where, on their arrival, you will receive orders to proceed with
them to your castle of la Villar, and to use them in the king's
service in repressing all troubles that may occur in Poitou. What
say you to that?"

"I would not deprive her majesty of two hundred of her best soldiers
to guard me from what may not be after all a very real danger.
My own conclusions, after thinking it over this morning, are that
I will remain here for a time, trusting to my friends and my own
sword. If a serious attempt is made on my life I could then consider
whether it would be best to withdraw myself, and if so, whither to
go; but I will not run away merely on a vague hint that my life
is in danger. I have faced death in battle many times, and this
danger can hardly be considered as more serious. I imagine that in
the first case some of the duke's followers will force me into a
duel, before proceeding to try assassination, and although doubtless
he has some good blades among his friends, I do not think that I
need to feel uneasy on that score. I was always practising with my
sword as a boy. Since I have been in the army I have spent a good
deal of my time, when in winter quarters, in such practice with