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34 hot-headed devil upon him; and had planned his humiliation and beating.

He would be revenged; and as he twisted and turned and groaned in an anguish of mind even more than of body, a scheme came to him; and in the congenial task of working it out and maturing it, his own sufferings were more than half forgotten.

His first thought had been to lay in wait for Denys and, catching him unawares, to thrust a dagger between his ribs swiftly from behind; but there was too much risk. He might fail to strike true, and then—the horrible fear of what would happen to himself in such a case killed the plan at once.

The next thought was to hire some one in Morvaix to do what he with his own hand was afraid to attempt, but his cunning made him hesitate to place himself in any other's power. And so that idea had in its turn to be abandoned.

But out of it had come the scheme which he saw was at once safe and sure. He would remain in the background all unsuspected even by Lucette, and might mask his work in any way he wished; and yet Denys would die as surely as if his was the hand which plunged the dagger home to his heart. Aye, much more surely.

He would tell the Baron de Proballe that Denys had in some way got scent of the scheme which had been laid against Gabrielle and that he meant to divulge it to her.

He had some ground to believe this, moreover. Earlier in the day Denys had put some searching questions to him, had hinted at ugly rumours, and asked significantly about strange letters which had passed between de Cobalt and his master. And Dauban knew the latter well enough to be sure what would happen. The Baron would tell the Duke, and the tiger of a Governor would find means to silence Denys for ever.