At last he had hounded down this man, so
long out of his reach, into disobedience and contumacy.
"Why are you here, and where have you been?" he demanded once more.
"I will not say."
The answer, given at length, was tranquil, low, slowly and distinctly
uttered, in a deliberate refusal, in a deliberate defiance.
The dark and evil countenance above him grew livid with fury.
"I can have you thrashed like a dog for that answer, and I will. But
first listen here, beau sire! I know as well as though you had confessed
to me. Your silence cannot shelter your great mistress' shame. Ah, ha!
So Mme. la Princesse is so cold to her equals, only to choose her lovers
out of my blackguards, and take her midnight intrigues like a camp
courtesan!"
Cecil's face changed terribly as the vile words were spoken. With
the light and rapid spring of a leopard, he reached the side of his
commander, one hand on the horse's mane, the other on the wrists of his
chief, that it gripped like an iron vise.
"You lie! And you know that you lie. Breathe her name once more, and, by
God, as we are both living men, I will have your life for your outrage!"
And, as he spoke, with his left hand he smote the lips that had
blasphemed against her.
It was broken asunder at last--all the long and bitter patience, all
the calm and resolute endurance, all the undeviating serenity beneath
provocation, which had never yielded through twelve long years,
but which had borne with infamy and with tyranny with such absolute
submission for sake of those around him, who would revolt at his sign
and be slaughtered for his cause.
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