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You measure strength with Francois Bigot: we will see which proves the stronger in the end. 'In the end the unjust steward kneels for mercy to his master, was Monsieur Doltaire's quiet answer; and then he made a courteous gesture towards the door, and I went to it with him slowly, wondering what the end would be.
The rivalry between the Governor and the Intendant was keen and vital at this time, though it changed later, as I will show. At her name I looked up and caught Monsieur Doltaire's eye. He read my thoughts. "You have had blithe hours here, monsieur," he said "you know the way to probe us; but of all the ladies who could be most useful to you, you left out the greatest. There you erred.
Indeed, we have been blessed with good, true friends, Robert, though they are not of those who are powerful, save in their loyalty." Alixe then told me that the officer Legrand had arrived from France but two days before the eventful night of which I have just written, armed with an order from the Grande Marquise for Doltaire's arrest and transportation.
While I mused, Doltaire's face passed before me as it was in life, and I heard him say again of the peasants, "These shall save the earth some day, for they are of it, and live close to it, and are kin to it." Suddenly there rushed before me that scene in the convent, when all the devil in him broke loose upon the woman I loved.
Now and again Doltaire drew out a box and took a pinch of snuff, and once, coolly and curiously, he walked up to the most stalwart prisoner and felt his pulse, then to the weakest, whose limbs and body had stiffened as though dead. "Ninety-seven! Ninety-eight! Ninety-nine!" growled Gabord, and then came Doltaire's voice: "Stop! Now fetch some brandy."
I was recalling that first day that I remember in my life, when at Balmore my grandfather made prophecies upon me, and for the first time I was conscious of the world. As I stood lost to everything about me, I heard Doltaire's voice behind, and presently he said over my shoulder, "To wish Captain Moray a good-morning were superfluous!"
Something get into the two gentlemen, for both are pale, and the face of the Intendant all of spots, and his little round eyes like specks of red fire; but M'sieu' Doltaire's face, it is still, and his brows bend over, and now and then he make a little laughing out of his lips. All at once I hear him say, 'Double the stakes, your Excellency! The Intendant look up sharp and say, 'What!
Then Doltaire's look was fixed on me, and I knew he waited to see if I would divulge the matter private between us. However, I stood by my compact with him. Besides, it could not serve me to speak of it here, or use it as an argument, and it would only hasten an end which I felt he could prevent if he chose.
I never saw more hate than shot out of Voban's eyes at that moment; but the lids drooped over them at once, and he made ready for his work, as Doltaire, putting aside his coat, seated himself, laughing. There was no little daring, as there was cruelty, in thus torturing a man whose life had been broken by Doltaire's associate.
Suddenly I heard footsteps and voices outside; then one voice, louder than the other, saying, "He hasn't stirred a peg lies like a log!" It was Gabord. Doltaire's voice replied, "You will not need a surgeon no?" His tone, as it seemed to me, was less careless than usual. Gabord answered, "I know the trick of it all what can a surgeon do? This brandy will fetch him to his intellects.
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