n't you speak up,
Minoret? Are you going to let monsieur box your ears in that way
and accuse you of wickedness that's beneath you? As if a man with
forty-eight thousand francs a year from landed property, and a castle
fit for a prince, would stoop to such things! Get up, and don't sit
there like a wet rag!"

"I don't know what monsieur means," said Minoret in his squeaking voice,
the trembling of which was all the more noticeable because the voice
was clear. "What object could I have in persecuting the girl? I may have
said to Goupil how annoyed I was at seeing her in Nemours. My son Desire
fell in love with her, and I didn't want him to marry her, that's all."

"Goupil has confessed everything, Monsieur Minoret."

There was a moment's silence, but it was terrible, when all three
persons examined one another. Zelie saw a nervous quiver on the heavy
face of her colossus.

"Though you are only insects," said the young nobleman, "I will make
you feel my vengeance. It is not from you, Monsieur Minoret, a
man sixty-eight years of age, but from your son that I shall seek
satisfaction for the insults offered to Mademoiselle Mirouet. The first
time he sets his foot in Nemours we shall meet. He must fight me; he
will do so, or be dishonored and never dare to show his face again. If
he does not come to Nemours I shall go to Fontainebleau, for I will have
satisfaction. It shall never be said that you were tamely allowed to
dishonor a defenceless young girl--"

"But the calumnies of a Goupil--are--not--" began Minoret.

"Do you wish me to bring him face to face with you? Believe me, you had
better hush up this affair; it lies between you and Goupil and me. Leave
it as it is; God will decide between us and when I meet your son."

"But this sha'n't go one!" cried Zelie. "Do you suppose I'll stand
by and let Desire fight you,--a sailor whose business it is to handle
swords and guns? If you've got any cause of complaint against Minoret,
there's Minoret; take Minoret, fight Minoret! But do you think my boy,
who, by your own account, knew nothing of all this, is going to bear
the brunt of it? No, my little gentleman! somebody's teeth will pin your
legs first! Come, Minoret, don't stand staring there like a big canary;
you are in your own house, and you allow a man to keep his hat on before
your wife! I say he shall go. Now, monsieur, be off! a man's house is
his castle. I don't know what you mean with your nonsense, but show
me