"Never to return?"
"Not for a long while, surely."
"What fault have you to find with me, Monseigneur, I pray you tell me?" asked Martin, sadly.
"None at all, my good Martin; you are the most devoted and faithful of servants."
"Yet you do not take me with you," returned Martin, "although it is natural that the servant should follow his master, that the squire should attend upon his lord."
"I have the best of reasons for it, Martin."
"May I venture to ask what they are, Monseigneur?"
"In the first place," replied Gabriel, "it would be downright cruelty for me to tear you away from this happy life which has come to you so lately, and from the repose you have so well earned."
"Oh, as for that, it is my duty to accompany you, Monseigneur, and to serve you to my last hour; and I would give up Paradise, I believe, for the sake of being at your side."
"Yes, but it is my duty not to abuse your zeal, for which I am grateful with all my heart," said Gabriel. "In the second place, the sad casualty which befell you at Calais will not allow you hereafter to render me such active service as you have done formerly."