“Ah, father, do you forget that just now you stigmatised as cowardice his firm and prudent conduct in this affair?”
“He, Honorât, my son, a coward? I would cut anybody in the face who would dare say it If I said that, I was wrong,—it was anger that carried me away. Honorât, my son—”
Raimond V. opened his arms to Honorât, who embraced him, and said:
“Believe, me, sir, do not undertake this journey. My God! you will see these people only too soon.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“To-morrow morning, without doubt, they will be here,—not one house of the nobility will be exempt from this measure.”
“They will be here to-morrow!” cried the baron, with an expression of joy difficult to portray. “Ah, the recorder will be here to-morrow, he who has condemned poor devils to the galleys for the crime of smuggling. Ah, he will be here to-morrow! As God lives, it fills my heart with joy. Laramée, do not have the horses saddled, no, no, only to-morrow at daybreak prepare twenty good poles from hazel-trees, because I hope we will break a good many; then arrange a seesaw above the moat, and—but I will tell you to-night when I go to bed. Some wine, Laramée, some wine; give me my father’s cup and Spanish wine, I must drink with solemnity to such a piece of news; some wine of Xeres, I tell you,—wine of Lamalgue to the devil! since the minions of the petty tyrant of Provence will be here to-morrow, and we will be able to lash them soundly with the straps that ought to be laid on Vitry.”
Having said this, the baron sat down again in his armchair; each one took his place, to the great delight of the poor abbé, who, during this scene, had not dared to utter a word.
The supper, interrupted by this incident, was finished with a certain constraint.
Raimond V., preoccupied with the reception that he was preparing for the agents, stopped every few moments to whisper something in Laramée’s ear; it was easy to guess the subject of these secret conferences, by the air of profound satisfaction with which the old soldier received the instructions of his master.