should be cruel rather than kind were I not to warn you that nothing can
come of it.'

With that he offered me his hand, and, cheered as much by this mark
of consideration as by the kindness of his expressions, I rallied my
spirits. True, I wanted comfort more substantial, but it was not to be
had. I thanked him therefore as becomingly as I could, and seeing there
was no help for it, took my leave of him, and slowly and sorrowfully
withdrew from the room.

Alas! to escape I had to face the outside world, for which his kind
words were an ill preparation. I had to run the gauntlet of the
antechamber. The moment I appeared, or rather the moment the door closed
behind me, I was hailed with a shout of derision. While one cried,
'Way! way for the gentleman who has seen the king!' another hailed me
uproariously as Governor of Guyenne, and a third requested a commission
in my regiment.

I heard these taunts with a heart full almost to bursting. It seemed to
me an unworthy thing that, merely by reason of my poverty, I should be
derided by youths who had still all their battles before them; but to
stop or reproach them would only, as I well knew, make matters worse,
and, moreover, I was so sore stricken that I had little spirit left
even to speak. Accordingly, I made my way through them with what speed I
might, my head bent, and my countenance heavy with shame and depression.
In this way--I wonder there were not among them some generous enough
to pity me--I had nearly gained the door, and was beginning to breathe,
when I found my path stopped by that particular young lady of the Court
whom I have described above. Something had for the moment diverted her
attention from me, and it required a word from her companions to apprise
her of my near neighbourhood. She turned then, as one taken by surprise,
and finding me so close to her that my feet all but touched her gown,
she stepped quickly aside, and with a glance as cruel as her act, drew
her skirts away from contact with me.

The insult stung me, I know not why, more than all the gibes which
were being flung at me from every side, and moved by a sudden impulse I
stopped, and in the bitterness of my heart spoke to her. 'Mademoiselle,'
I said, bowing low--for, as I have stated, she was small, and more
like a fairy than a woman, though her face expressed both pride and
self-will--'Mademoiselle,' I said sternly, 'such as I am, I have fought
for France! Some day you may learn that