"
"But my thanks shall not be in words; you shall have the same
courtesy at our hands one day."
"I had the Bastile for a year," he rejoined, calling up a squad
of men with his finger as he spoke. "I have had my best day. Two
would be monotony. You think your English will take this some
time?" he asked, waving a finger towards the citadel. "It will need
good play to pluck that ribbon from its place." He glanced up, as
he spoke, at the white flag with its golden lilies.
"So much the better sport," I answered. "We will have the ribbon
and its heritage."
"You yourself shall furnish evidence to-day. Gabord here will
see you temptingly disposed--the wild bull led peaceably by the
nose!"
"But one day I will twist your nose, Monsieur Doltaire."
"That is fair enough, if rude," he responded. "When your turn
comes, you twist and I endure. You shall be nourished well like me,
and I shall look a battered hulk like you. But I shall never be the
fool that you are. If I had a way to slip the leash, I'd slip it.
You are a dolt." He was touching upon the letters again.
"I weigh it all," said I. "I am no fool--anything else you will."
"You'll be nothing soon, I fear--which is a pity."
What more he might have said I do not know, but there now
appeared in the yard a tall, reverend old gentleman, in the costume
of the coureur de bois, though his belt was richly chased, and he
wore an order on his breast.
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