De Flavigny sat down by him. "Mon ami, the last thing I wish to do is to pry into your affairs. I can only repeat that I am exceedingly sorry I was so clumsy as to cause you pain, and that, since his presence is displeasing to you, I will make it my care, as far as I can, that you do not meet the gentleman in question again."
"I don't suppose," said Fortuné de la Vireville between his teeth, "that he will seek for a repetition of the interview."
He looked out to sea again in silence. René glanced at his set mouth. His friendship was of too recent a date for him to know much of La Vireville's private history, but he, like others, had heard the rumour of a tragedy in his past, and he guessed that he now stood on its threshold. He was silent, while the sea, all a-sparkle in the sun, came splashing in a little below them, and the gulls, uttering their fine-weather chuckle, sailed slantwise in the wind.
"I never thought I should see him again," said La Vireville to himself, after a moment "—least of all here." And he pulled off another piece of seaweed and examined it minutely.
"You need never come into contact with him," repeated the Marquis.
"A woman asked me not long ago," observed La Vireville inconsequently, still examining the seaweed, "whether I could readily forgive a mortal injury. I told her . . . the truth. Yes, by God, it was the truth! . . . I think you have never had cause to hate anyone overmuch, René? Destiny, perhaps"—his face softened for a moment as he glanced at him—"but not a man—nor a woman."
"No," answered the Marquis. And he added, "Thank God!"
La Vireville threw him another glance, satirical this time. "Your pious ejaculation is quite justified. It is not an emotion to cultivate. Well, I suppose I ought to return to my flock, having sat on this promontory long enough." He dropped the piece of seaweed carefully into a pool. "Where is . . . your protégé gone to?"
"Back to his regiment, I presume," answered de Flavigny. "Hector is quartered at Port Haliguen, as you know." He hesitated, then laid his hand on the Chouan's shoulder. "Fortuné, my dear friend, forgive me for saying it, but if you meet him again you will not quarrel with him? After all, every man here——"
La Vireville's face hardened again as he broke in. "My dear René, I know perfectly well what you are going to say. Private enmities must be sunk for the common weal, is it not? I assure you I am fully of your opinion. And, to reassure your scrupulous mind, let me tell you that M. de St. Four and I settled our score in that way ten years ago. You see that mark?" He touched his cheek. "That is the proof of it. Come, let us go back." He scrambled to his feet, and Rene de Flavigny followed him.