"Ascanio! Ascanio!" cried Jacques in despair, "you are destroying yourself!"
"I prefer to destroy myself, rather than do a dastardly deed, Aubry."
"But this is no dastardly deed, for Benvenuto is the one who undertakes to do it."
"Listen to me, Aubry," said Ascanio, "and don't be angry at what I say. If Benvenuto stood in your place, and should say to me, 'It was Madame d'Etampes, your enemy, who caused your arrest, who carried off Colombe, who now has her in her power and intends to force her to do what she does not wish to do,—I cannot save Colombe unless I have that letter,'—I would make him swear that he would not show it to the king, and then I would give it to him. But Benvenuto is not here, and I am not certain that it is the duchess who is persecuting me. This letter would not be safe in your hands, Aubry: forgive me, but you yourself admit that you are an arrant chatterbox."
"I promise you, Ascanio, that the day I have just passed has aged me ten years."
"You may lose the letter, or, with the best intentions, I know, make an injudicious use of it, Aubry, so the letter will remain where it is."
"But, my dear fellow," cried Jacques, "remember that Benvenuto himself said that nothing but this letter can save you."
"Benvenuto will save me without that, Aubry; Benvenuto has the king's word that he will grant him whatever favor he asks on the day that his Jupiter is safely cast. When you thought that Benvenuto was going mad because he shouted, 'To the casting!' he was beginning to rescue me."
"But suppose the casting should be unsuccessful?" said Aubry.
"There's no danger," rejoined Ascanio with a smile.