protest? The filial love and piety which you displayed were far more
powerful in their effect than any words of mine would have been. You
were scarcely out of the village before Monsieur de Sairmeuse, already
ashamed of his injustice, said to me: 'I have been wrong, but I am an
old man; it is hard for me to decide to make the first advance; you,
Marquis, go and find Monsieur Lacheneur, and obtain his forgiveness.'"

Marie-Anne, redder than a peony, and terribly embarrassed, lowered her
eyes.

"I thank you, Monsieur," she faltered, "in the name of my father--"

"Oh! do not thank me," interrupted Martial, earnestly; "it will be my
duty, on the contrary, to render you thanks, if you can induce Monsieur
Lacheneur to accept the reparation which is due him--and he will accept
it, if you will only condescend to plead our cause. Who could resist
your sweet voice, your beautiful, beseeching eyes?"

However inexperienced Maurice might be, he could no longer fail to
comprehend Martial's intentions. This man whom he mortally hated
already, dared to speak of love to Marie-Anne, and before him, Maurice.
In other words, the marquis, not content with having ignored and
insulted him, presumed to take an insolent advantage of his supposed
simplicity.

The certainty of this insult sent all his blood in a boiling torrent to
his brain.

He seized Martial by the arm, and with irresistible power whirled him
twice around, then threw him more than ten feet, exclaiming: