she has the charm for me. She is plastic in my hands. Other men would
waste the treasure. I make of her what I will, and she knows it, and
knows that she hangs on me to flourish worthily. I breathe the very soul
of the woman into her. As for that letter of hers--' it burnt him this
time to speak of the letter: 'she may write and write! She's weak, thin,
a reed; she--let her be! Say of her when she plays beast--she is absent
from Alvan! I can forgive. The letter's nothing; it means nothing--
except "Thou fool, Alvan, to let me go." Yes, that! Her people are
acting tyrant with her--as legally they have no right to do in this
country, and I shall prove it to them. When I have gained admission to
her--and I soon shall: it can't be refused: I am off to the head of her
father's office to-morrow, and I have only to represent the state of
affairs to the Minister in my language to obtain his authority to demand
admission to her:--then, friend, you will see! I lift my finger, and you
will see! At my request she went back to her mother. I have but to
beckon.'

He had cooled to the happy assurance of his authority over her, all the
giants of his system being well in action, and when that is the case with
a big nature it is at rest, or such is the condition of repose granted it
in life.

On the morrow he was off to batter at doors which would have expected
rather the summons of an armed mob at his heels than the strange cry of
the Radical man maltreated by love.




CHAPTER XI