I do not wish to imply he was beaten without a contest, not so; but it would have been better for him if he had not fought: he received a blow in the eye, another blow on his mouth, and made a hasty retreat after this double attack, which he only opposed by a feeble hit at my nose. The whole affair was over in less than a minute, and the victory was mine.
I ought to do my comrades the justice of saying that this victory was followed by unanimous applause.
I then put my jacket on again, and collected my books, murmuring:
"You see! you see! you see!" which seemed to mean, "Look at me, see what I am! a coward at bottom, but when driven to desperation, an Alexander, a Hannibal, or a Cæsar; you see!"
This seemed also to be the opinion of the spectators, for they opened their ranks to let me pass through, and I went out through the great porch, recently the scene of my humiliation and now my triumphal arch. I found a book which had dropped out of Bligny's waistcoat when he staggered from my blow; and, as I considered that the spoils of the conquered belonged by right to the conqueror, I picked it up and carried it off.
I opened it as I took it away, and saw it was M. Tissot's well-known work.
I did not know what the title meant, and I allowed my mother to take the book away from me and to hide it.
Two years afterwards I discovered it and read it.
Had I read it the day of my victory it would have been fruitless, because I should not have understood it.
Two years later it was providential.