"But no--but no, she would not do it. She would not teach her son to
destroy his own father. But something must have told him to come and
listen to me, to challenge me in his own mind, and then--then this
thing!"
He stared at the paper, leaning over the table, as though it were a
document of terror.
"I must go on: I must uphold the policy for which I've got the assent of
the Government." Suddenly his hands clenched. "I will beat him. He
shall not bring me to the dust. I gave him life, and he shall not take
my life from me. He's at the beginning; I'm going towards the end.
I wronged his mother--yes, I wronged him too! I wronged them both, but
he does not know he's wronged. He'll live his own life;
he has lived it--"
There came a tap at the door. Presently it opened and a servant came in.
He had in his hand a half-dozen telegrams.
"All about the man that's going to fight you, I expect, m'sieu'," said
the servant as he handed the telegrams.
Barode Barouche did not reply, but nodded a little scornfully.
"A woman has called," continued the servant. "She wants to see you,
m'sieu'. It's very important, she says."
Barouche shook his head in negation. "No, Gaspard."
"It ain't one of the usual kind, I think, m'sieu'," protested Gaspard.
"It's about the election. It's got something to do with that--" he
pointed to the newspaper propped against the teapot.
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