ry him
on, when he attached himself to the revolutionaries. It was on his
daughter's savings that he was now travelling, with the only thing he
had saved from the downfall, which was his head. It was of sufficient
personal value to make him quite cheerful as the Antoine plunged and
shivered on her way to the country where he could have no steady work as
a revolutionist.

With reserve and caution the Basque captain felt it his duty to tell
Jean Jacques of his suspicions, warning him that the Spaniards were the
choicest liars in the world, and were not ashamed of it; but had
the same pride in it as had their greatest rivals, the Arabs and the
Egyptians.

His discreet confidences, however, were of no avail; he was not discreet
enough. If he had challenged the bona fides of Sebastian Dolores only,
he might have been convincing, but he used the word "they" constantly,
and that roused the chivalry of Jean Jacques. That the comely, careful
Carmen should be party to an imposture was intolerable. Everything about
her gave it the lie. Her body was so perfect and complete, so finely
contrived and balanced, so cunningly curved with every line filled in;
her eye was so full of lustre and half-melancholy too; her voice had
such a melodious monotone; her mouth was so ripe and yet so distant in
its luxury, that imposture was out of the question.

Ah, but Jean Jacques was a champion worth while! He did nothing
by halves. He was of the breed of men who grow more intense, more
convinced, more thorough, as they talk. One adjective begets another,
one warm allusion gives birth to a warmer, one flashing impulse evokes a
brighter confidence, till the atmosphere is flaming with conviction. If
Jean Jacques started with faint doubt regarding anything, and allowed
himself betimes the flush of a declaration of belief, there could be but
one end. He gathered fire as he moved, impulse expanded into momentum,
and momentum became an Ariel fleeing before the dark. He would start
by offering a finger to be pricked, and would end by presenting his own
head on a charger. He was of those who hypnotize themselves, who glow
with self-creation, who flower and bloom without pollen.

His rejection of the captain's confidence even had a dignity. He
took out his watch which represented so many laborious hours of other
Barbilles, and with a decision in which the strong pulse of chivalry was
beating hard, he said:

"I can never speak well till I have ate. Tha