"And when I bade him
remember his duty he threatened me. He, that unnatural boy,
threatened to betray me, to ruin me, to go to Madame de Beaufort
and tell her all--all, you understand. And I doing so much, and
making such sacrifices for him!"
"Yes," I said, "I see that. And what did you do?"
"I broke my cane on his back," M. de Perrot answered with
unction, "and locked him in his room. But what is the use? The
boy has no natural feelings!"
"He got out through the window?"
Perrot nodded; and being at leisure, now that he had explained
his woes, to feel their full depth, shed actual tears of rage and
terror; now moaning that Madame would never forgive him, and that
if he escaped the Bastille he would lose all his employments and
be the laughing-stock of the Court; and now striving to show that
his peril was mine, and that it was to my interest to help him.
I allowed him to go on in this strain for some time, and then,
having sufficiently diverted myself with his forebodings, I bade
him in an altered voice to take courage.
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