"
He uttered a short laugh. "A fit servant for such a master as
Louis the Just!"
"Monsieur le Vicomte," said I, warming in my own defence, "I swear
you do him injustice. He is extravagant, but then he is rich; he
is a libertine, but then he is young, and he has been reared among
libertines; he is a gamester, but punctiliously honourable at play.
Believe me, monsieur, I have some acquaintance with Marcel de
Bardelys, and his vices are hardly so black as is generally believed;
whilst in his favour I think the same may be said that you have just
said of his father - he is an honest, upright gentleman."
"And that disgraceful affair with the Duchesse de Bourgogne?"
inquired Lavedan, with the air of a man setting an unanswerable
question.
"Mon Dieu!" I cried, "will the world never forget that indiscretion?
An indiscretion of youth, no doubt much exaggerated outside Court
circles."
The Vicomte eyed me in some astonishment for a moment.
"Monsieur de Lesperon," he said at length, "you appear to hold this
Bardelys in high esteem. He has a staunch supporter in you and a
stout advocate. Yet me you cannot convince." And he shook his head
solemnly. "Even if I did not hold him to be such a man as I have
pronounced him, but were to account him a paragon of all the virtues,
his coming hither remains an act that I must resent."
"But why, Monsieur le Vicomte?"
"Because I know the errand that brings him to Lavedan. He comes
to woo my daughter.
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