"
"Alas, no," I answered, deeply touched by these words of Patience. "I
know neither charity nor justice."
"You have not been able to practise them yet, but they are written in
your heart. I can read them there. People call me a sorcerer, and so I
am in a measure. I know a man directly I see him. Do you remember what
you said to me one day on the heath at Valide? You were with Sylvain
and I with Marcasse. You told me that an honest man avenges his wrongs
himself. And, by-the-bye, Monsieur Mauprat, if you are not satisfied
with the apologies I made you at Gazeau Tower, you may say so. See,
there is no one near; and, old as I am, I have still a fist as good as
yours. We can exchange a few healthy blows--that is Nature's way. And,
though I do not approve of it, I never refuse satisfaction to any
one who demands it. There are some men, I know, who would die of
mortification if they did not have their revenge: and it has taken
me--yes, the man you see before you--more than fifty years to forget an
insult I once received . . . and even now, whenever I think of it, my
hatred of the nobles springs up again, and I hold it as a crime to have
let my heart forgive some of them."
"I am fully satisfied, Master Patience; and in truth I now feel nothing
but affection for you."
"Ah, that comes of my scratching your back. Youth is ever generous.
Come, Mauprat, take courage. Follow the abbe's advice; he is a good
man.
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