Le Baron Marius Pontmercy.
The old man rang the bell.
Nicolette came.
M. Gillenormand took the ribbon, the case, and the coat, flung them all on the floor in the middle of the room, and said:--
"Carry those duds away."
A full hour passed in the most profound silence.
The old man and the old spinster had seated themselves with their backs to each other, and were thinking, each on his own account, the same things, in all probability.
At the expiration of this hour, Aunt Gillenormand said:--"A pretty state of things!"
A few moments later, Marius made his appearance.
He entered. Even before he had crossed the threshold, he saw his grandfather holding one of his own cards in his hand, and on catching sight of him, the latter exclaimed with his air of bourgeois and grinning superiority which was something crushing:--
"Well! well! well! well! well! so you are a baron now.
I present you my compliments.
What is the meaning of this?"
Marius reddened slightly and replied:--
"It means that I am the son of my father."
M. Gillenormand ceased to laugh, and said harshly:--
"I am your father."
"My father," retorted Marius, with downcast eyes and a severe air, "was a humble and heroic man, who served the Republic and France gloriously, who was great in the greatest history that men have ever made, who lived in the bivouac for a quarter of a century, beneath grape-shot and bullets, in snow and mud by day, beneath rain at night, who captured two flags, who received twenty wounds, who died forgotten and abandoned, and who never committed but one mistake, which was to love too fondly two ingrates, his country and myself."
This was more than M. Gillenormand could bear to hear.
At the word republic, he rose, or, to speak more correctly, he sprang to his feet.