"No."
"They arrested Ascanio."
"Yes."
"And took him to the Châtelet."
"Very good."
"But what they don't know, and what nobody knows save the Duchesse d'Etampes, Benvenuto, and myself, is that Ascanio possesses a certain letter, a certain secret, which places the duchess in his power. Now do you understand?"
"Yes I begin to see light. But do you help me, my dear friend."
"You see, viscount," continued Aubry, assuming a more and more aristocratic air, "I want to be admitted to the Châtelet, get to Ascanio's cell, take the letter or learn the secret, leave the prison again, go to Benvenuto and arrange with him some method whereby Colombe's virtue and Ascanio's love may triumph, to the confusion of the Marmagnes and D'Orbecs, the provost, the Duchesse d'Etampes, and the whole clique."
"That's a very ingenious plan," said Marmagne.
"Thanks for your confidence, my dear student. You shall have no reason to regret it."