Scaramouche

claimed - quite unjustifiably - to have discovered Woman that morning; and the things he had to say of the sex were unflattering, and occasionally almost gross. M. de Vilmorin, having ascer

nterrupted his companion just as he was soaring to the dizziest heights of caustic invective, and Andre–Louis, rest

ou've been listeni

nt me, Andre. You seem to have forgotten what we went for. I have an appointment here with M. le Marquis. He desires to hear me further in

s of

power. Provide for the widow and the orphans.

d Andre–Louis, and quoted "T

asked P

- unless you consider th

shered by the host. A fire of logs was burning brightly at the room's far end, and by this sat now M. de La Tour d'Azyr and h

a tone so cold as to belie the politeness of his words. "A chair, I beg. Ah, Morea

ease, M. l

eat, Moreau." He spoke over

offered me this opportunity of continuing the subject t

e hands to the blaze. He replied, without troubling t

ment," said he, darkly, and M. de Chabrillane laughed. Andre–Louis t

sisted, "that you should condesc

im over his shoulder. "

widow and orphans of

he Chevalier, and again the Chevalier

in which to carry our discussion further, and because I hesitated to incommode you by suggesting that you should come all the way to Azyr. But my object is connec

in the air. He was a man of quick intuitions, quicker far than

" said he. "To what expres

ever mistaken you may have been, you spoke very eloquently, too eloquently almost, it seemed to me - of the infamy of such a deed as the act of summary justice upon this thieving fellow Mabey, or wh

s infamy is not modified by the rank, however exalted

You say, 'if the deed was infamous,' monsieur. Am I to understand tha

a look of perplexity. He did n

ess to assume responsibility, that you must believe jus

necessary to employ a deterrent sufficiently strong to put an end to them. Now that the risk is known, I do not think there will be any more prowling in my coverts. And there is more in it than that, M. de Vilmorin. It is not the poaching that annoys me so much as the contempt for my absolute and inviolable rights. There is, monsieur, as you cannot fail to have observed, an evil spirit of insubordination in the air, and there is one only way in which to meet it. To tolera

that it conveyed to the watchful, puzzled, vaguely uneasy Andre–Louis. It was, thought he, a very curious, a very suspicious oration. It affected to explain, with a politeness of

ws?" he demanded, angrily. "Have you never

What have I to do with the la

d at him a moment in

s. I hope you will remember it in the hour when you m

back his head sharply, hi

time to-day that you have made use of dark sayings that I

reatures . . . Oh, you may sneer, monsieur, but they are God's creatures, even as you or I-

, spare me a ser

onder, when God presents His reckoning to you for t

ip, was from M. de Chabrillane, who bounded to h

ng M. l'abbe, and I should like to hear

y alarm, by the evil that he saw written on the handsome face of M.

oing, Philip

less grip of passions long repressed, wa

u will be. Consider how you and your kind live by abuses, a

have the effrontery to stand before my face and offer me t

grass and barley, on the wind that turns the mill? The peasant cannot take a step upon the road, cross a crazy bridge over a river, buy an ell of cloth in the village market, without meeting feudal rapacity, without being taxed in feudal dues. Is not that enough, M. le Marquis? Must you also demand his wret

nsidered him, strangely silent, a half smile of disdain at

s tugged at his

ili

m off, and plunge

year, are to do nothing but devise fresh means of extortion to liquidate the bankruptcy of the State? You delude yourselves, as you shall find. The Third Estate, which you de

ted in his chair,

rved to out-at-elbow enthusiasts in the provincial literary chambers, compounded of the effusions of your Voltaires and Jean–Jacques and such dirty-fingered scribblers. You have not am

d, "is more ancient than nobility. Hu

laughed an

ected. It has the right note of cant

de Chabril

" he criticized his cousi

e was answered. "I desired

hould have no

nge. "M. l'abbe," said he once more, "you have a very dangerous gift of eloquence. I can conceive of men being sway

stared blankly,

a slow, bewildered voice. "But I was born a gentleman.

rows, a vague, indulgent smile. His dark, liquid e

n deceived in

cei

discretion of which madame you

the lips that had uttered them, coldly, as if they had been

r d'Azyr's, as if searching there for a meaning that eluded him. Quite suddenly he understood the vile affront. The blood leapt to his face, fire blazed in his gentle e

illane was on his feet

ve in a game of chess, calculated to exasperate his opponent into some such cou

n slowly to colour his face; but he said nothing more. Instead, it was M. de Chabr

said he, coldly, to Philippe. "And you real

nsequences. But he realized them now at the sinister invitation of M. de Chabrillane, and if he desired to avoid these consequences, it was ou

," said he, in a dull voice. "The balance is stil

ying that such a thing has never happened before to M. le Marquis in all his life. If you felt yourself affronted, you had but to ask the satisfaction due from one gent

heap coals upon this fire, to make quite su

n, and the traditions of his class were strong upon him - stronger far than the seminarist schooling in humility

sword, messieurs!" cri

ended. He may have

habit to wear a sword, that he has never worn one, that he is untutored in its uses. He is a seminarist -

ered before he struck a blow,"

the other's haughty stare had no part in that recovery. "O my God, I talk in vain! How is

lung him off. "Be quiet, Andre. M.

He was baring his breast to the knife for the sake of a vague, distorted sense of the honour due to himself. It was not that he did not see the trap. It was that his h