"All this may betide when you come to Toulouse, Monsieur de
Bardelys," said he darkly, "but from here to Toulouse it is a matter
of some twenty leagues."
With that, he turned on his heel and left me, baffled and angry, to
puzzle out the inner meaning of his parting words.
He gave his men the order to mount, and bade Monsieur de Lavedan
enter the coach, whereupon Gilles shot me a glance of inquiry. For
a second, as I stepped slowly after the Chevalier, I was minded to
try armed resistance, and to convert that grey courtyard into a
shambles. Then I saw betimes the futility of such a step, and I
shrugged my shoulders in answer to my servant's glance.
I would have spoken to the Vicomte ere he departed, but I was too
deeply chagrined and humiliated by my defeat. So much so that I
had no room in my thoughts even for the very natural conjecture of
what Lavedan must be thinking of me. I repented me then of my
rashness in coming to Lavedan without having seen the King - as
Castelroux had counselled me. I had come indulging vain dreams of
a splendid overthrow of Saint-Eustache. I had thought to shine
heroically in Mademoiselle's eyes, and thus I had hoped that both
gratitude for having saved her father and admiration at the manner
in which I had achieved it would predispose her to grant me a hearing
in which I might plead my rehabilitation. Once that were accorded
me, I did not doubt I should prevail.
Now my dream was all dispelled, and my pride had suffered just such
a humiliating fall as the moralists tell us pride must ever suffer.
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