"
And without more ado I shouldered him aside, and held the door that
she might enter. She rewarded me with a smile--half vicious, half
whimsical, and mounted the step. Saint-Eustache would have
interfered. He came at me as if resenting that shoulder-thrust of
mine, and for a second I almost thought he would have committed the
madness of striking me.
"Take care, Saint-Eustache," I said very quietly, my eyes fixed on
his. And much as dead Caesar's ghost may have threatened Brutus
with Philippi "We meet at Toulouse, Chevalier," said I, and closing
the carriage door I stepped back.
There was a flutter of skirts behind me. It was mademoiselle. So
brave and outwardly so calm until now, the moment of actual
separation - and added thereunto perhaps her mother's going and the
loneliness that for herself she foresaw - proved more than she could
endure. I stepped aside, and she swept past me and caught at the
leather curtain of the coach.
"Father!" she sobbed.
There are some things that a man of breeding may not witness - some
things to look upon which is near akin to eavesdropping or reading
the letters of another. Such a scene did I now account the present
one, and, turning, I moved away. But Saint-Eustache cut it short,
for scarce had I taken three paces when his voice rang out the
command to move. The driver hesitated, for the girl was still
hanging at the window. But a second command, accompanied by a
vigorous oath, overcame his hesitation.
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