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La Tour d'Azyr's words were but as a move in a game of chess, calculated to exasperate his opponent into some such counter-move as this a counter-move that left him entirely at the other's mercy. M. le Marquis looked on, very white save where M. de Vilmorin's finger-prints began slowly to colour his face; but he said nothing more.
In each of-these cultures he counted the rows of the seeds on the ears of all the plants when ripe, and calculated their average. This average, of course, does not necessarily correspond to a whole number, and fractions should not be neglected. According to Vilmorin's rule he always found some progression of the average and some regression.
"You say, 'if the deed was infamous, monsieur. Am I to understand that you are no longer as convinced as you appeared to be of its infamy?" M. de Vilmorin's fine face wore a look of perplexity. He did not understand the drift of this.
He stood aghast, all thought suspended in him, what time M. de Vilmorin's eyes continued fixed upon M. de La Tour d'Azyr's, as if searching there for a meaning that eluded him. Quite suddenly he understood the vile affront. The blood leapt to his face, fire blazed in his gentle eyes. A convulsive quiver shook him.
This was in the year 1859, and at that time Shirreff was the highest authority and the most successful breeder of cereals. Vilmorin's method had been applied only to beets, and Hallett had commenced his pedigree-cultures only a few years before and his first publication of the "Pedigree-wheat" appeared some years later at the International Exhibition of London in 1862.
"The Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr said of him that he had too dangerous a gift of eloquence. It was to silence his brave voice that he killed him. But he has failed of his object. For I, poor Philippe de Vilmorin's friend, have assumed the mantle of his apostleship, and I speak to you with his voice to-day."
So much concerning ever-sporting varieties and double adaptations. We now come to the effects of a continuous selection of simple characters. Here the sugar-beets stand preeminent. Since Vilmorin's time they have been selected according to the amount of sugar in their roots, and the result has been the most striking that has ever been attained, if considered from the standpoint of practice.
However, if I understand the signs rightly, the time is soon coming when Vilmorin's experience will become once more the foundation for progress in breeding. Leaving the theoretical and historical aspects of the problem, we will now recall the experimental evidence, given in a former lecture, dealing with the inheritance of monstrosities.
This stand was empty, but the footman paced before the door, and as he emerged now from behind the vehicle into the range of M. de Vilmorin's vision, he displayed the resplendent blue-and-gold livery of the Marquis de La Tour d'Azyr. "Why!" he exclaimed. "Is it M. de La Tour d'Azyr who is with your uncle?"
It was, thought he, a very curious, a very suspicious oration. It affected to explain, with a politeness of terms and a calculated insolence of tone; whilst in fact it could only serve to stimulate and goad a man of M. de Vilmorin's opinions. And that is precisely what it did. He rose. "Are there in the world no laws but game laws?" he demanded, angrily.
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