never
refuse a blessing to a good Legitimist.' So stern as that! And when I
think that I was perhaps the only girl of the family or in the whole
world that he ever in his priest's life patted on the head! When I think
of that I . . . I believe at that moment I was as wretched as he was
himself. I handed him an envelope with a big red seal which quite
startled him. I had asked the Marquis de Villarel to give me a few words
for him, because my uncle has a great influence in his district; and the
Marquis penned with his own hand some compliments and an inquiry about
the spirit of the population. My uncle read the letter, looked up at me
with an air of mournful awe, and begged me to tell his excellency that
the people were all for God, their lawful King and their old privileges.
I said to him then, after he had asked me about the health of His Majesty
in an awfully gloomy tone--I said then: 'There is only one thing that
remains for me to do, uncle, and that is to give you two pounds of the
very best snuff I have brought here for you.' What else could I have got
for the poor old man? I had no trunks with me. I had to leave behind a
spare pair of shoes in the hotel to make room in my little bag for that
snuff. And fancy! That old priest absolutely pushed the parcel away. I
could have thrown it at his head; but I thought suddenly of that hard,
prayerful life, knowing nothing of any ease or pleasure in the world,
absolutely nothing but a pinch of snuff now and then. I remembered how
wretched he used to be when he lacked a copper or two to get some snuff
with. My face was hot with indignation, but before I could fly out at
him I remembered how simple he was. So I said with great dignity that as
the present came from the King and as he wouldn't receive it from my hand
there was nothing else for me to do but to throw it into the brook; and I
made as if I were going to do it, too. He shouted: 'Stay, unhappy girl!
Is it really from His Majesty, whom God preserve?' I said
contemptuously, 'Of course.' He looked at me with great pity in his
eyes, sighed deeply, and took the little tin from my hand. I suppose he
imagined me in my abandoned way wheedling the necessary cash out of the
King for the purchase of that snuff. You can't imagine how simple he is.
Nothing was easier than to deceive him; but don't imagine I deceived him
from the vainglory of a mere sinner. I lied to the dear man, simply
because I couldn't bear t