Mario interrupted the conversation. Lauriane, who had already conceived a warm affection for him, chose to take his arm to return in doors.
Guillaume and Bois-Doré were left alone for an instant, behind the others.
"Ah! cousin," said the young man, "what an extremely unpleasant thing it is to have to conceal a man's death, as if one had reason to blush for some dastardly deed, when, on the contrary——"
"For my own part, I should prefer to have no concealment whatsoever," the marquis replied. "It was you who urged me to this deception; but if it is burdensome to you——"
"No, no! Your rector seems to have some suspicions. My D'Alvimar made a great show of piety. The cassock would be on his side, and it is too dangerous a game to play in this neighborhood. Let us continue to hold our peace until the story of your brother's cowardly murder has circulated thoroughly, and do you show the proofs of it to everybody, without naming the culprits. Then, when you do name them, everybody will be disposed to condemn them. But tell me, marquis, do you know whether the wretched man's body——"
"Yes, Aristandre has inquired. The lay brother did his duty."
"But there was something about this D'Alvimar that I cannot understand, cousin. A man so well-born, and whose manners were so refined!"
"The ambition of a courtier and Spanish poverty!" replied Bois-Doré. "And furthermore, cousin, there is a philosophical paradox that has often come to my mind: that we are all equal before God, and that he sets no more store by a nobleman's soul than by a serf's. On that point, it may be that the Calvinist doctrine is not far out of the way."
"By the way," rejoined Guillaume, "speaking of Calvinists, cousin, do you know that the king's affairs are going badly over yonder, and that he is having no success at all in taking Montauban? I learned at Bourges, from some very well-informed persons, that on the first pretext the siege would be raised, and that may change the whole political status once more. Perhaps you were a little too hasty about abjuring!"
"Abjuring! abjuring!" echoed Bois-Doré, shaking his head; "I never abjured anything. I reflect, I discuss matters with myself, and I take one side or the other, according to the arguments that come to my mind. In reality——"