Don Esteban uttered an ejaculation of horror.  "Kill Petion!" he exclaimed.  "My good sir, I most fervently hope that no one in this house will be so ill-advised as to attempt Petion's life.  For if anything were to happen to him his followers would be so incensed, so utterly maddened with fury, that they would simply pull the place down about our ears, and drag us out from among the ruins to die a death of unimaginable horror!"