Part 9 (1/2)
The door behind Andre-Louis opened softly M de Lesdiguieres, pale with anger, contained himself with difficulty
”You seek to corowled ”You think the King's justice is to be driven headlong by the voice of any impudent roturier? I ive you a last warning, ue of yours, or you will have cause very bitterly to regret its glibness” He waved a jewelled, conte behind Andre ”To the door!” he said, shortly
Andre-Louis hesitated a second Then with a shrug he turned This was the windht of rueful countenance To attack it at closer quarters would ain
”M de Lesdiguieres,” said he, ” fact in natural history? The tiger is a great lord in the jungle, and was for centuries the terror of lesser beasts, including the wolf The wolf, hi hunted He took to associating with other wolves, and then the wolves, driven to form packs for self-protection, discovered the power of the pack, and took to hunting the tiger, with disastrous results to hiuieres”
”I have studied a buffoon thissneer hich M de Lesdiguieres replied But that he conceived himself witty, it is probable he would not have condescended to reply at all ”I don't understand you,” he added
”But you will, M de Lesdiguieres You will,” said Andre-Louis, and so departed
CHAPTER VII THE WIND
He had broken his futile lance with the windested by M de Kercadiou persisted in his ood fortune that he had escaped without hurt There remained the wind itself--the ind And the events in Rennes, reflex of the graver events in Nantes, had set that wind blowing in his favour
He set out briskly to retrace his steps towards the Place Royale, where the gathering of the populace was greatest, where, as he judged, lay the heart and brain of this co the city
But the co to the commotion which he found on his return Then there had been a comparative hush to listen to the voice of a speaker who denounced the First and Second Estates from the pedestal of the statue of Louis XV Now the air was vibrant with the voice of the er Here and therewith canes and fists; everywhere a fierce excite's Lieutenant to restore and maintain order were so much helpless flotsam in that tempestuous human ocean
There were cries of ”To the Palais! To the Palais! Doith the assassins! Doith the nobles! To the Palais!”
An artisan who stood shoulder to shoulder with hihtened Andre-Louis on the score of the increased excite there where it fell at the foot of the statue And there was another student killed not an hour ago over there by the cathedral works Pardi! If they can't prevail in one way they'll prevail in another” TheIf they can't overawe us, by God, they'll assassinate us They are determined to conduct these States of Brittany in their oay No interests but their own shall be considered”
Andre-Louis left hih that human press
At the statue's base he came upon a little cluster of students about the body of the murdered lad, all stricken with fear and helplessness
”You here, Moreau!” said a voice
He looked round to find hiht, swarthy man of little more than thirty, firm of mouth and impertinent of nose, who considered him with disapproval It was Le Chapelier, a lawyer of Rennes, a prominent member of the Literary Chamber of that city, a forceful ift of eloquence
”Ah, it is you, Chapelier! Why don't you speak to them? Why don't you tell them what to do? Up with you, man!” And he pointed to the plinth
Le Chapelier's dark, restless eyes searched the other's impassive face for some trace of the irony he suspected They were as wide asunder as the poles, these two, in their political views; and ues of the Literary Chahly as by this vigorous republican
Indeed, had Le Chapelier been able to prevail against the influence of the se since have found himself excluded from that assembly of the intellectual youth of Rennes, which he exasperated by his eternal mockery of their ideals
So now Le Chapelier suspected mockery in that invitation, suspected it even when he failed to find traces of it on Andre-Louis' face, for he had learnt by experience that it was a face not often to be trusted for an indication of the real thoughts that moved behind it
”Your notions and mine on that score can hardly coincide,” said he