"Your affair, Monsieur, has been of an irregularity," he said.
As with kaleidoscopic swiftness the details of my "affair" passed
through my memory, it was only by an effort that I restrained an
indecorous shout. He was correct. I could call to mind no single feature
that had been "regular," from the thief who was not a thief and had
flown out of my window like a conjurer, to the fight in Prezelay castle
where I had vanquished four husky Germans, mostly by the aid of a wooden
table, of all implements on earth.
"It is too true, _Monsieur le General_," I assented promptly. My
humility seemed to soften him; he relaxed; he even approached a smile.
"Of an irregularity," he repeated. "But also it was of a gallantry. With
a boldness and a resource and a scorn for danger that, permit me to say,
mark your compatriots, you have unmasked and handed over to us one of
our most dangerous foes. For such service as you have rendered France is
never ungrateful. And, moreover, there have been friends to plead your
cause and to plead it well."
As he ended he cast a glance at the Duke of Raincy-la-Tour and one at
Dunny, whereupon I was enlightened as to the purpose of my guardian's
three trips to Paris the preceding week.
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