'The Public Prosecutor is speaking now,' said the doorkeeper in a whisper, as a voice in a tone of assumed indignation rang through the heated air of the court--'You played,' it said, 'on the innocent passion of an old man.'
'But how about me?' said Freydet, thinking aloud.
Freydet was at first puzzled, but presently disgusted at the strange fate which prevented his coming forward in public as the champion of the Académie, and so getting himself talked about and seeing his name for once in the papers. Just then a shout of laughter greeted the enumeration of the forgeries in the Mesnil-Case collection; letters from kings, popes, empresses, Turenne, Buffon, Montaigne, La Boëtie, Clémence Isaure, and the mere mention of the absurd list showed the extraordinary simplicity of the historian who had been befooled by the little dwarf. But at the thought that this disrespectful laugh was a scoff at his master and protector, Freydet felt an indignation not altogether free from selfishness. He felt that he was himself hit by the recoil, and his candidature damaged again. He broke away, mingling in the stir of the general exodus amid a confusion of footmen running to and fro in the beautiful waning light of a fine June day, while the parasols, pink, white, mauve, or green opened like so many large flowers. Little explosions of laughter were still coming from the various groups, as if they had been seeing an amusing piece at the theatre. The little humpback had got it hot--five years' imprisonment and costs. But how comic Margery had been! Marguerite Oger was exclaiming in fits, 'Oh my dears, my dears!' and Danjou, escorting Madame Eviza to her carriage, said aloud in his cynical way, 'It's a slap in the face for the Académie, well planted--but it was cleverly done.'
Léonard Astier, who was walking alone, heard Danjou's remark as well as others, in spite of the warnings passed from mouth to mouth, 'Take care--there he is.' It signified to him the beginning of his fall in estimation, consequent on the general knowledge of his folly and the amusement of Paris.
'Take my arm, my dear master!' said Freydet, who had been carried to him by the strong impulse of affection.
'Ah, my dear friend, how much good you do me!' said the old man in a dull, broken voice.