"You will not mention what I have said to you, Messer Basterga ?" "Not a syllable," his host answered, as he followed him out.

The abruptness of the departure did not surprise him.

"Believe me, I feel for you, Messer Blondel." The Syndic acknowledged the phrase by a gesture not without pathos, and, passing out, stumbled blindly down the narrow stairs.

Basterga attended him with respect to the outer door, and there they parted in silence.
The magistrate, his shoulders bowed, walked slowly to the left, where, turning into the town through the inner gate, the Porte Tertasse, he disappeared.

The big man waited a while, sunning himself on the steps, his face towards the ramparts.
"He will come back, oh, yes, he will come back," he purred, smiling all over his large face.