They are only gray."
A quarrel thus begun had in a few seconds become so fierce that the
younger man forgot the moderation he had tried to preserve. Just as
the Comte de Kergarouet saw his niece coming back to them with every
sign of the greatest uneasiness, he told his antagonist his name,
bidding him keep silence before the young lady entrusted to his care.
The stranger could not help smiling as he gave a visiting card to the
old man, desiring him to observe that he was living at a country-house
at Chevreuse; and, after pointing this out to him, he hurried away.
"You very nearly damaged that poor young counter-jumper, my dear,"
said the Count, advancing hastily to meet Emilie. "Do you not know how
to hold your horse in?--And there you leave me to compromise my
dignity in order to screen your folly; whereas if you had but stopped,
one of your looks, or one of your pretty speeches--one of those you
can make so prettily when you are not pert--would have set everything
right, even if you had broken his arm."
"But, my dear uncle, it was your horse, not mine, that caused the
accident. I really think you can no longer ride; you are not so good a
horseman as you were last year.--But instead of talking nonsense----"
"Nonsense, by Gad! Is it nothing to be so impertinent to your uncle?"
"Ought we not to go on and inquire if the young man is hurt? He is
limping, uncle, only look!"
"No, he is running; I rated him soundly.
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