Bah!" and Pavannes raised his head proudly, "I fear him not! I fear him not a jot!" For a moment he forgot Kit, the loss of his friends, his own doom.

He snapped his fingers in derision of his foe.
But my heart sank miserably.

The Vidame's rage I remembered had been directed rather against my cousin than her lover; and now by the light of his threats I read Bezers' purpose more clearly than Louis could.
His aim was to punish the woman who had played with him.

To do so he was bringing her lover from Paris that he might execute him--AFTER GIVING HER NOTICE! That was it: after giving her notice, it might be in her very presence! He would lure her to Cahors, and then-- I shuddered.

I well might feel that a precipice was opening at my feet.