"I would not draw back."
"Bravo! that is what I call character. Have you been tortured?"
"No; but I had a narrow escape."
"Then you will be."
"Why so?"
"Because I have been; and it would be unfair to treat us differently. Look at the state of my clothes."
"Which did they give you?" asked Gaston, shuddering at the recollection of what had passed between D'Argenson and himself.
"The water. They made me drink a barrel and a half; my stomach was like a bladder; I did not think I could have held so much."
"And did you suffer much?" asked Gaston, with interest.
"Yes; but my temperament is robust—the next day I thought no more of it. It is true that since then I have drunk a great deal of wine. If you have to choose, select the water—it cleans. All the mixtures doctors give us are only a means of making us swallow water. Fangon says the best doctor he ever heard of was Doctor Sangrado; he only existed in Le Sage's brain, or he would have done miracles."