“Pardon me, sir, I said just what I meant.”
The doctor, who had not Mascarin’s reasons for gravity, now burst into a jovial laugh.
“And that pretty Rose,” said he, “what of her?”
“Rose is a creature of the past,” answered Paul. “I can now see what an idiot I was, and I have entirely effaced her from my memory, and I am half inclined to deplore that Mademoiselle Rigal is an heiress, the more so if it is to form a barrier between us.”
This declaration seemed to make Mascarin more easy.
“Reassure yourself, my boy,” said he, “we will remove that barrier; but I will not conceal from you that the part you have to play is much more difficult than that assigned to the Marquis de Croisenois; but if it is harder and more perilous, the reward will be proportionately greater.”
“With your aid and advice I feel capable of doing everything necessary,” returned Paul.
“You will need great self-confidence, the utmost self-possession, and as a commencement you must utterly destroy your present identity.”
“That I will do with the utmost willingness.”
“You must become another person entirely; you must adopt his name, his gait, his behavior, his virtues, and even his failings. You must forget all that you have either said or done. You must always think that you are in reality the person you represent yourself to be, for this is the only way in which you can lead others into a similar belief. Your task will be a heavy one.”