Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini (ebook pdf reader for pc TXT) đ
- Author: Rafael Sabatini
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Infuriated by an act of tyranny so absolute and merciless, M. de Vilmorin proposed to lay the matter before M. de Kercadiou. Mabey was a vassal of Gavrillac, and Vilmorin hoped to move the Lord of Gavrillac to demand at least some measure of reparation for the widow and the three orphans which that brutal deed had made.
But because AndrĂ©-Louis was Philippeâs dearest friendâ âindeed, his almost brotherâ âthe young seminarist sought him out in the first instance. He found him at breakfast alone in the long, low-ceilinged, white-panelled dining-room at Rabouilletâsâ âthe only home that AndrĂ©-Louis had ever knownâ âand after embracing him, deafened him with his denunciation of M. de La Tour dâAzyr.
âI have heard of it already,â said AndrĂ©-Louis.
âYou speak as if the thing had not surprised you,â his friend reproached him.
âNothing beastly can surprise me when done by a beast. And La Tour dâAzyr is a beast, as all the world knows. The more fool Mabey for stealing his pheasants. He should have stolen somebody elseâs.â
âIs that all you have to say about it?â
âWhat more is there to say? Iâve a practical mind, I hope.â
âWhat more there is to say I propose to say to your godfather, M. de Kercadiou. I shall appeal to him for justice.â
âAgainst M. de La Tour dâAzyr?â AndrĂ©-Louis raised his eyebrows.
âWhy not?â
âMy dear ingenuous Philippe, dog doesnât eat dog.â
âYou are unjust to your godfather. He is a humane man.â
âOh, as humane as you please. But this isnât a question of humanity. Itâs a question of game-laws.â
M. de Vilmorin tossed his long arms to Heaven in disgust. He was a tall, slender young gentleman, a year or two younger than André-Louis. He was very soberly dressed in black, as became a seminarist, with white bands at wrists and throat and silver buckles to his shoes. His neatly clubbed brown hair was innocent of powder.
âYou talk like a lawyer,â he exploded.
âNaturally. But donât waste anger on me on that account. Tell me what you want me to do.â
âI want you to come to M. de Kercadiou with me, and to use your influence to obtain justice. I suppose I am asking too much.â
âMy dear Philippe, I exist to serve you. I warn you that it is a futile quest; but give me leave to finish my breakfast, and I am at your orders.â
M. de Vilmorin dropped into a winged armchair by the well-swept hearth, on which a piled-up fire of pine logs was burning cheerily. And whilst he waited now he gave his friend the latest news of the events in Rennes. Young, ardent, enthusiastic, and inspired by Utopian ideals, he passionately denounced the rebellious attitude of the privileged.
André-Louis, already fully aware of the trend of feeling in the ranks of an order in whose deliberations he took part as the representative of a nobleman, was not at all surprised by what he heard. M. de Vilmorin found it exasperating that his friend should apparently decline to share his own indignation.
âDonât you see what it means?â he cried. âThe nobles, by disobeying the King, are striking at the very foundations of the throne. Donât they perceive that their very existence depends upon it; that if the throne falls over, it is they who stand nearest to it who will be crushed? Donât they see that?â
âEvidently not. They are just governing classes, and I never heard of governing classes that had eyes for anything but their own profit.â
âThat is our grievance. That is what we are going to change.â
âYou are going to abolish governing classes? An interesting experiment. I believe it was the original plan of creation, and it might have succeeded but for Cain.â
âWhat we are going to do,â said M. de Vilmorin, curbing his exasperation, âis to transfer the government to other hands.â
âAnd you think that will make a difference?â
âI know it will.â
âAh! I take it that being now in minor orders, you already possess the confidence of the Almighty. He will have confided to you His intention of changing the pattern of mankind.â
M. de Vilmorinâs fine ascetic face grew overcast. âYou are profane, AndrĂ©,â he reproved his friend.
âI assure you that I am quite serious. To do what you imply would require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, not systems. Can you and our vapouring friends of the Literary Chamber of Rennes, or any other learned society of France, devise a system of government that has never yet been tried? Surely not. And can they say of any system tried that it proved other than a failure in the end? My dear Philippe, the future is to be read with certainty only in the past. Ab actu ad posse valet consecutio. Man never changes. He is always greedy, always acquisitive, always vile. I am speaking of Man in the bulk.â
âDo you pretend that it is impossible to ameliorate the lot of the people?â M. de Vilmorin challenged him.
âWhen you say the people you mean, of course, the populace. Will you abolish it? That is the only way to ameliorate its lot, for as long as it remains populace its lot will be damnation.â
âYou argue, of course, for the side that employs you. That is natural, I suppose.â M. de Vilmorin spoke between sorrow and indignation.
âOn the contrary, I seek to argue with absolute detachment. Let us test these ideas of yours. To what form of government do you aspire? A republic, it is to be inferred from what you have said. Well, you have it already. France in reality is a republic today.â
Philippe stared at him. âYou are being paradoxical, I think. What of the King?â
âThe King? All the world knows there has
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