But do not avenge your seigneur, do not think of avenging him. You would sacrifice yourselves in vain — you, your wives and children, your property, your liberty. Lay down your arms, my friends — lay down your arms! since the king commands you so to do — and retire peaceably to your dwellings. It is I who ask you to do so; it is I who beg you to do so; it is I who now, in the hour of need, command you to do so, in the name of M. Fouquet.”
The crowd collected under the window uttered a prolonged roar of anger and terror.
“The soldiers of Louis XIV. have reached the island,” continued Aramis. “From this time it would no longer be a fight betwixt them and you — it would be a massacre. Begone, then, begone, and forget; this time I command you, in the name of the Lord of Hosts!”