The republicanism of some was quite
as exaggerated as the aristocratic bearing of others was unmistakable.
Certain glances which they detected between the marquis and his
guests, certain words of double meaning imprudently uttered, but above
all the fringe of beard which was round the necks of several of the
men and was very ill-concealed by their cravats, brought the officers
at last to a full conviction of the truth, which flashed upon their
minds at the same instant. They gave each other one look, for Madame
du Gua had cleverly separated them and they could only impart their
thoughts by their eyes. Such a situation demanded the utmost caution.
They did not know whether they and their men were masters of the
situation, or whether they had been drawn into a trap, or whether
Mademoiselle de Verneuil was the dupe or the accomplice of this
inexplicable state of things. But an unforeseen event precipitated a
crisis before they had fully recognized the gravity of their
situation.
The new guest was one of those solid men who are square at the base
and square at the shoulders, with ruddy skins; men who lean backward
when they walk, seeming to displace much atmosphere about them, and
who appear to think that more than one glance of the eye is needful to
take them in. Notwithstanding his rank, he had taken life as a joke
from which he was to get as much amusement as possible; and yet,
although he knelt at his own shrine only, he was kind, polite, and
witty, after the fashion of those noblemen who, having finished their
training at court, return to live on their estates, and never suspect
that they have, at the end of twenty years, grown rusty.
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