I should be glad to know, however,
what plans you have formed for yourself."
"Frankly, sir," he said, "I thought of this as I travelled; and I
decided that fortune can be won by three things--by gold, by
steel, and by love. The first I have not, and for the last I
have a better use. Only the second is left. I shall be
Crillon."
I looked at him in astonishment; for the assurance of his manner
exceeded that of his words. But I did not betray the feeling.
"Crillon was one in a million," I said drily.
"So am I," he answered.
I confess that the audacity of this reply silenced me. I
reflected that the young man who--brought up in the depths of the
country, and without experience, training or fashion--could so
speak in the face of Paris was so far out of the common that I
hesitated to dash his hopes in the contemptuous way which seemed
most natural. I was content to remind him that Crillon had lived
in times of continual war, whereas now we were at peace; and,
bidding him come to me in a week, I hinted that in Paris his
crowns would find more frequent opportunities of leaving his
pockets than his sword its sheath.
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