e gave it to Freydet, begging him to deliver
it himself as soon as possible.

'It shall be there within an hour, my dear Paul.'

He made with his hand a sign of thanks and dismissal, then stretched
himself out, shut his eyes, and lay quiet and still till the departure,
listening to the sound which came from the sunny meadow around--a vast
shrill hum of insects, which imitated the pulsation of approaching
fever. Beneath the closed lids his thoughts pursued the windings of this
second and quite novel plot, conceived by a sudden inspiration on 'the
place of defeat.

Was it a sudden inspiration? There perhaps the ambitious young man was
wrong; for the spring of our actions is often unseen, lost and hidden
amid the internal disturbance of the crisis, even as the agitator who
starts a crowd himself disappears in it. A human being resembles a
crowd; both are manifold, complicated things, full of confused and
irregular impulses, but there is an agitator in the background; and the
movements of a man, like those of a mob, passionate and spontaneous as
they may appear, have always been preconcerted. Since the evening when
on the terrace of the Hotel Padovani Lavaux had suggested the Duchess to
the young Guardsman, the thought had occurred to Paul that, if Madame
de Rosen failed him, he might fall back on the fair Antonia. It had
recurred two nights ago at the Francais, when he saw Adriani in the
Duchess's box; but it took no definite shape, because all his energy
was then turned in another direction, and he still believed in the
possibility of success. Now that the game was completely lost, his first
idea on returning to life was 'the Duchess.' Thus, although he scarcely
knew it, the resolution reached so abruptly was but the coming to light
of what grew slowly underground. 'I wanted to avenge you, but could
not.' Warm-hearted, impulsive, and revengeful as he knew her to be,
'Mari' Anto,' as her Corsicans called her, would certainly be at his
bedside the next morning. It would be his business to see that she did
not go away.

Vedrine and Freydet went back together in the landau, without waiting
for Sammy's brougham, which had to come slowly for the sake of the
wounded man. The sight of the swords lying in their baize cover on the
empty seat opposite suggested reflection. 'They don't rattle so much
as they did going, the brutes,' said Vedrine, kicking them as he spoke.
'Ah, you see they are his!' said Freydet, giving words to h