"Protection you shall have, _mon Colonel_, if you have a right to it,
_bien entendu_," said the sergeant, civilly but cautiously.
"I ask it because these people have made a dead set at me. They have
tried to hustle me and, I fear, to rob me, and I have been obliged to
act in my own defence."
Before I could protest against this shameless misrepresentation of the
fact, my lord interposed. He was now free, and, gradually recovering,
was burning to avenge the insults put upon him.
"It is not true," he shouted. "It is an absolute lie. He knows it is
not true; he is perfectly well aware who I am, Lord Blackadder; and
that he has no sort of grievance against me nor any of my people. His
attack upon me was altogether unprovoked and unjustifiable."
"Let the authorities judge between us," calmly said the Colonel. "Take
us before the station-master, or send for the Commissary from the
town. I haven't the slightest objection."
"Yes, yes, the _Commissaire de police_, the judge, the peace officer.
Let us go before the highest authorities; nothing less than arrest,
imprisonment, the heaviest penalties, will satisfy me," went on my
lord.
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