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Page 52
'Andr�, can't you do something to stop this rain?' he asked; but Andr�
stared. 'Oh, I was thinking of the priests of Baal,' Paul explained.
'I beg your pardon.' And after the coffee, 'Let's go up and play in
the garret,' he proposed: at which Andr� stared harder still. 'We
always used to play in the garret on rainy days,' Paul reminded him.
'Mais, ma foi, monsieur, nous ne sommes plus des gosses,' Andr�
answered.
'Is there any news about the Queen?' Paul asked.
'There's never any news from Granjolaye,' said Andr�.
'And the lady I met in the forest? Have you any new theory who she
is?'
'An officer's wife from Ba----'
'Andr�!' cried Paul. 'If you say that again, I shall write to the Pope
and ask him to disfrock you.'
The next day was fine; but, though he spent the entire morning in the
Smuggler's Pathway, he did not meet her. 'It's because the ground's
still wet,' he reasoned. 'Oh, why don't things dry quicker?'
The next day he did meet her--and she passed him with a bow. He shook
his fist at her unsuspecting back.
The next day he perceived B�zigue riderless near the opening among the
trees. The horse neighed, as he drew near. She was seated on the
moss. He stood still, and bowed tentatively from the path. 'Are you
disengaged? May I come in?' he asked.
'Oh, do,' she answered. 'And--won't you take a seat?'
'Thank you,' and he placed himself beside her.
'Tell me about your life afterwards,' she said.
'My life afterwards? After what?'
'After you were carried off to Paris.'
'What earthly interest can _that_ have?'
'I want to know.'
'It was the average life of the average youth whose family is in
average circumstances.'
'You went to school?'
'What makes you doubt it? Do I seem so illiterate?'
'Where? In England? Eton? Harrow?'
'No, in Paris. The Lyc�e Louis le Grand. Oh, I have received an
education--no expense was spared. I forget how many years I passed _�
faire mon droit_ in the Latin Quarter. You'd be surprised if you were
to discover what a lot I know. Shall I prove to you that the sum of
the angles of a right-angled triangle is equal to two right angles? Or
conjugate the verb _amo_? Or give you a brief summary of the
doctrines of Aristotle? Or an account of the life and works of
Gustavus Alolphus?'
'When did you go to England?'
'Not till Necessity drove me there. I had to eke out a meagre
patrimony. I went to England to seek my fortune.'
'Did you find it?'
'I never had the knack of finding things. When my father used to send
me into the library to fetch a book, or my mother into her
dressing-room to fetch her scissors, I could never find them. I looked
for it everywhere, but I couldn't find it.'
'What did you do?'
'I lived by my wits. _Chevalier d'industrie_.'
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