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Updated: June 20, 2025
Then raising his head haughtily, he addressed Miraudin in distinct tones. "Monsieur Miraudin, you have greatly insulted and falsely slandered a lady whom I have the honour to know. I have struck you for your lie; and consider you worthy of no further treatment save a horsewhipping in public.
You are alarmingly like Miraudin; and one MUST draw the line at Miraudin! This is a day of truth according to the Abbe Vergniaud; how dare you say you are at my service when you do not mean it?" "Princesse, I protest . . ." "Oh, protest as much as you like, on the way to Rome!" The Marquis started. "To Rome?" "Yes, to Rome. I am going, and I want someone to look after me. Will you come?
The Marquis moved uneasily in his seat, he saw himself in the famous actor, himself as he would be, if he continued his career of self-indulgence, for Miraudin though gifted with a genius that could move all Paris to the wildest excesses of admiration, was in private life known as a man of detestable reputation, whose liaisons with women were endless, but who, in his extreme egotism and callousness had never been known to yield to the saving grace of a "grande passion," one of those faithful passions which sometimes make the greatness of both man and woman concerned, and adorn the pages of dull history with the brilliancy of deathless romance.
Throwing herself on the cold ground, thick with the dust of dead Caesars, she clung to Miraudin, pouring out a torrent of vociferous French, largely intermixed with a special slang of the Paris streets, and broken by the hysterical yells when she saw her "protector" throw off his coat, and, standing in his shirt-sleeves, take close observation of the pistol he held.
And while eager questions were poured out and answered, a couple of gendarmes were seen struggling in the centre of the church with a man who seemed to have the power of a demon, so fierce and frantic were his efforts to escape. "Ah, voila! The assassin!" cried Miraudin, hastening to give assistance. "The assassin!" echoed a dozen other persons pressing in the same direction.
At the first sight of the pistols the driver of the fiacre, who had been more or less stupefied till now, by the suddenness of the adventure, gave a sort of whining cry, and climbing down from his box fell on his knees before Miraudin, and then ran a few paces and did the same thing in front of the Marquis, imploring both men not to fight, not to get killed, on account of the trouble it would cause to him, the coachman; and with a high falsetto shriek a lady flung herself out of the recesses of the closed vehicle, and clung to the actor's arm.
Sylvie uttered a low cry and covered her face with her hands. "Miraudin!" exclaimed Madame Bozier in horrified tones. "Miraudin! Is he killed also?" "Yes, Madame! Both shots must have been fired with deadly aim. They had no seconds. Miraudin had hired a common fiacre to escape in from the city, and the police will offer a reward for the discovery of the driver.
All the men in the wine-shop crowded around them, and for a moment Miraudin, blinded by the blow, and the wine that had splashed up against his eyes, did not see who had struck him, but as he recovered from the sudden shock and stared at his opponent, he broke into a wild laugh. "Diantre! Ban soir, Monsieur le Marquis! Upon my life, there is something very strange in this!
For he has all the capabilities of genius, but they are dormant, and the joys of self-indulgence appeal to him more strongly than high ambition and attainment. And he could not love any women for more than a week or a month at most, in which temperament he exactly resembles the celebrated Miraudin.
The actor Miraudin, known to be one of the most coarse- minded and brutal of men, slandered me in public, the Marquis defended me. Hence the combat and its fatal end, which no one has deplored more bitterly than I. Miraudin was never a gentleman, Fontenelle could have been one had he chosen. And I confess I cared very much for him at one time!"
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