The two moved on in silence for a few
minutes.
"Why, what ails you, Le Gardeur?" asked his companion, as they
walked on arm in arm. "Has fortune frowned upon the cards, or your
mistress proved a fickle jade like all her sex?"
His words were irritating enough to Le Gardeur. "Look you, De Pean,
said he, stopping, "I shall quarrel with you if you repeat such
remarks. But you mean no mischief I dare say, although I would not
swear it!" Le Gardeur looked savage.
De Pean saw it would not be safe to rub that sore again. "Forgive
me, Le Gardeur!" said he, with an air of sympathy well assumed. "I
meant no harm. But you are suspicious of your friends to-night as a
Turk of his harem."
I have reason to be! And as for friends, I find only such friends
as you, De Pean! And I begin to think the world has no better!"
The clock of the Recollets struck the hour as they passed under the
shadow of its wall. The brothers of St. Francis slept quietly on
their peaceful pillows, like sea birds who find in a rocky nook a
refuge from the ocean storms.
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