This, following upon his imperturbable coolness throughout, had, I can
aver, a most aggravating effect. Being a little man and a braggart,
Firmin Bonaffé felt the insult all the more hotly.
"Throw me through the window? Me!" he exclaimed, drawing himself up as
if he wanted to touch the sky. "Try then! Just try!"
"By-and-by," said my uncle, pacifying him with a good-humoured gesture;
"but for the present let us have a talk, my good fellow! Certainly I
sympathise with your annoyance; for you must have perceived that I know
this lady, and that she knows me. There has even been a little liaison
between us----"
"Bagasse! You confess to it, then?"
"I confess to it!" responded the captain, in a conciliatory manner.
"But, my dear fellow, a brother's horns, as the saying goes, need not
trouble one so much as one's own. You will of course agree with me on
that point."
"I agree with you there!" replied the Toulonnais, quite gravely, as if
struck by a specious argument. "But it does not follow from that----"
"Stop a moment!" interrupted my uncle, who wished to pursue his
argument. "I, whom you see here, have also had the honour of being
made a cuckold, as they say in Molière. You are acquainted with Molière,
I dare say?"
"I am; go on!" said the lieutenant, who had made up his mind to restrain
himself while my uncle was developing his explanations.
"Very well! as you have read him, you ought to know that a misadventure
like that is not such a great matter after all. A second or two and it
is all over, just like having a tooth out. Besides, remember this, the
tooth cannot be replaced, while in the case of a woman, one can find
plenty to take her place."
"That's true!" returned Firmin Bonaffé, who opened his eyes wide, as if
he wished to follow this chain of reasoning, which evidently astonished
him by its perspicuity.
The issue began to be cleared.
"Then we have arrived at the same opinion," continued Barbassou Pasha.
"All that remains is to come to an understanding."
"By no means! by no means! I repeat, my brother confided his wife to my
charge. You have insulted her in public, and in the name of decency--"
"Oh, no!" interrupted my uncle; "you are exaggerating! In the first
place, my nephew and I were the only persons present; therefore there
was no very great harm done. Then you brought the people up by your
shouting; consequently it is I who have cause to complain."