"Boy," said the Abbe, gasping for breath, and still seizing me with his lean, bony hand,—"boy, give me that letter instantly; I charge you not to disobey me."
"You forget yourself, Sir," said I, endeavouring to shake him off, "you forget yourself: there is no longer between us the distinction of pupil and teacher; and if you have not yet learned the respect due to my station, suffer me to tell you that it is time you should."
"Give me that letter, I beseech you," said Montreuil, changing his voice from anger to supplication; "I ask your pardon for my violence: the letter does not concern you but me; there is a secret in those lines which you see are in my handwriting that implicates my personal safety. Give it me, my dear, dear son: your own honour, if not your affection for me, demands that you should."
I was staggered. His violence had confirmed my suspicions, but his gentleness weakened them. "Besides," thought I, "the handwriting /is his/; and even if my life depended upon reading the letter of another, I do not think my honour would suffer me to do so against his consent." A thought struck me,—
"Will you swear," said I, "that this letter does not concern me?"
"Solemnly," answered the Abbe, raising his eyes.
"Will you swear that I am not even mentioned in it?"
"Upon peril of my soul, I will."
"Liar! traitor! perjured blasphemer!" cried I, in an inexpressible rage, "look here, and here!" and I pointed out to the priest various lines in which my name legibly and frequently occurred. A change came over Montreuil's face: he released my arm and staggered back against the wainscot; but recovering his composure instantaneously, he said, "I forgot, my son—I forgot—your name is mentioned, it is true, but with honourable eulogy, that is all."
"Bravo, honest Father!" cried I, losing my fury in admiring surprise at his address,—"bravo! However, if that be all, you can have no objection to allow me to read the lines in which my name occurs; your benevolence cannot refuse me such a gratification as the sight of your written panegyric!"