Where did you take refuge when
you crossed the frontier, Chupin? In my house, in the inn kept by honest
Balstain. You were fed and protected there. How many times have I saved
you from the gendarmes and from the galleys? More times than I can
count. And to reward me, you steal my property; you steal this man who
was mine----"
"He is insane!" said the terrified Chupin, "he is mad!"
Then the innkeeper changed his tactics.
"At least you will be reasonable," he exclaimed. "Let us see, Chupin,
what you will do for an old friend? Divide, will you not? No, you
say no? What will you give me, comrade? A third? Is that too much? A
quarter, then----"
Chupin felt that all the soldiers were enjoying his terrible
humiliation. They were sneering at him, and only an instant before they
had avoided coming in contact with him with evident horror.
Transported with anger, he pushed Balstain violently aside, crying to
the soldiers:
"Come--are we going to spend the night here?"
An implacable hatred gleamed in the eye of the Piedmontese.
He drew his knife from his pocket, and making the sign of the cross in
the air:
"Saint-Jean-de-Coche," he exclaimed, in a ringing voice, "and you, Holy
Virgin, hear my vow.
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