He repaid me with a fierce glance for the conditions that I made; but as he knew that I was one to keep my word, he promised most solemnly to hear me to an end.
"Well then, my lord," I said, "I shall only farther claim, that as you give credit to one part of my story, so you shall give credit to the other; for every word that I am about to speak is equally true."
I then proceeded to recount all that I had seen in the morning after he had sent me back for the papers; and never did I see a more terrific struggle take place in a human being than that which agitated him during the recital. When I first spoke of Monsieur de Mesnil's horse tied to the tree, he had nearly broke forth; and when I came to relate the scene that first met my eye in the library, he started up from off his chair with every muscle of his face working under excessive emotion. He remembered his promise, however; and sitting down again, covered his eyes with his hand while I proceeded; but as I concluded with the words which his wife had uttered, he caught me by the arm, and gazed eagerly in my face, exclaiming--"Ha! did she say that?"
"On my honour! On my soul, she did," I replied; "as I hope in heaven!"
"Boy, you have saved me!" he exclaimed, sinking back in the chair; and to my astonishment, I saw a tear rise up in his eye and roll over his cheek. He brushed it hastily away, and then laying his hand kindly upon my shoulder, said, "John Marston, you have done your duty well and nobly, and by taking the means you have to make me hear you out, you have conferred an obligation on your lord that must never be forgotten. To a boy of your age I cannot speak as I might to others, of the vice and evil that reigns amongst our highest dames in Paris; but let it suffice, that a woman who so degrades herself becomes, to my mind, a thing of loathing and abhorrence; and if you can conceive what it is to love with the deepest intensity, you may understand what it would be to behold the beloved object suddenly change from the dearest jewel of your heart to the foulest object that earth can present to your eyes. It is worse, a thousand times, than to see the blighting change from life to death, but you have saved me; for the very suspicion of such a thing would be madness.--But you have saved me; and, after that noble speech, I shall never henceforth entertain a doubt or a fear."