ching
the logs burning in the grate, and of dismissing--or insulting--the
_chevau-leger_.

"Perhaps when M. de Louvois has heard my explanation of the reason why
I am late, have tarried on my road, he may be disposed to overlook my
dilitoriness," St. Georges replied, regarding the back of the
_roturier_ minister as he spoke; and the well-bred tones in which he
uttered the words caused Louvois to turn around and face him again.

They made a strange contrast as they stood there. Both men were more
than ordinarily tall, yet both carried their height differently.
Louvois's was decreased in appearance by the heaviness of his
shoulders, his head being deep set between them. St. Georges was as
erect as a dart; while, as he faced the man whom, by some innate
perception, he regarded as an enemy--or, at least, not a friend--his
head was thrown back, so that his height and uprightness seemed
somehow increased. Moreover, the whole appearance of each was in
extreme contrast, and that not a contrast in favour of the minister.
The stained military jacket of the soldier, the long, brown leather
boots, the large cavalry spurs, the great bowl-hilted sword, all gave
him an appearance of advantage over the sombre, velvet-clad Louvois;
the long, curling hair falling on his shoulders in a thick mass was
more becoming than the wig _a trois marteaux_ which Louvois wore
outside state functions. And for the rest, the pale yet
weather-exposed face of the one, with its long, deep, chestnut
mustache, caused the cadaverous and coarse-cut features of the
other--the thick, bulbous nose and full, sensual lips--to appear
insignificant, if not ignoble.

Louvois had kept him waiting three hours in the anteroom--a thing
which, however, he would have done in any case and to any one seeking
an interview with him, excepting only some scion of royalty,
legitimate or illegitimate, one of the king's marshals, or a relative
of one of the king's mistresses--for he understood as well as any
vulgar, important _parvenu_ of to-day, or thought he understood, the
value of administering such snubs. And, now that the visitor was
admitted, his manner was as insulting and as would-be humiliating as
he knew how to fashion it. Moreover, with another trait of vulgarity
as common in those days as these, he had bidden him to no seat.

His behaviour was the ignoble spite of the man who believed he saw in
the other the son of him who had consistently ignored his
existence--t