He declined the offer of
wine, and stepped backward from the table, with a bow to the
Intendant and the company, and was about to depart, when a loud
voice on the further side of the table cried out,--
"It is he, by all that is sacred! Pierre Philibert! wait!" Le
Gardeur de Repentigny rushed like a storm through the hall,
upsetting chairs and guests in his advance. He ran towards Colonel
Philibert, who, not recognizing the flushed face and disordered
figure that greeted him, shrank back from his embrace.
"My God! do you not know me, Pierre?" exclaimed Le Gardeur, wounded
to the quick by the astonished look of his friend. "I am Le Gardeur
de Repentigny! O dear friend, look and recognize me!"
Philibert stood transfixed with surprise and pain, as if an arrow
had stricken his eyes. "You! you Le Gardeur de Repentigny? It is
impossible! Le Gardeur never looked like you--much less, was ever
found among people like these!" The last words were rashly spoken,
but fortunately not heard amid the hubbub in the hall, or
Philibert's life might have paid the penalty from the excited
guests.
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