"General," he said, "the centuries look down on us as they looked down on
him, your sire--and mine!"
He doffed his hat, and the hats of all likewise came off in a strange
quiet. A cheer followed, and Valmond motioned for wine to go round
freely. Then he got off his horse, and, taking the weeping old man by the
arm, himself loosening the drum from his belt, they passed into the
hotel.
"A cheerful bit of foolery and treason," said Monsieur De la Riviere to
Madame Chalice.
"My dear Seigneur, if you only had more humour and less patriotism!" she
answered. "Treason may have its virtues. It certainly is interesting,
which, in your present gloomy state, you are not."
"I wonder, madame, that you can countenance this imposture," he broke
out.
"Excellent and superior monsieur, I wonder sometimes that I can
countenance you. Breakfast with me on Sunday, and perhaps I will tell you
why--at twelve o'clock."
She drove on, but, meeting the Cure, stopped her carriage.
"Why so grave, my dear Cure?" she asked, holding out her hand.
He fingered the gold cross upon his breast--she had given it to him two
years before.
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