What Happened in the Rue Maule




On his arrival in Paris, Tarzan had gone directly to the apartments
of his old friend, D'Arnot, where the naval lieutenant had scored
him roundly for his decision to renounce the title and estates
that were rightly his from his father, John Clayton, the late Lord
Greystoke.

"You must be mad, my friend," said D'Arnot, "thus lightly to give up
not alone wealth and position, but an opportunity to prove beyond
doubt to all the world that in your veins flows the noble blood
of two of England's most honored houses--instead of the blood of
a savage she-ape. It is incredible that they could have believed
you--Miss Porter least of all.

"Why, I never did believe it, even back in the wilds of your African
jungle, when you tore the raw meat of your kills with mighty jaws,
like some wild beast, and wiped your greasy hands upon your thighs.
Even then, before there was the slightest proof to the contrary, I
knew that you were mistaken in the belief that Kala was your mother.

"And now, with your father's diary of the terrible life led by him
and your mother on that wild African shore; with the account of
your birth, and, final and most convincing proof of all, your own
baby finger prints upon the pages of it, it seems incredible to me
that you are willing to remain a nameless, penniless vagabond."