Pride: One of the Seven Cardinal Sins

M. de Mornand straightened himself up hastily, and, perceiving the marquis, demanded with great hauteur:

"What can not be, monsieur?"

"You can not dance with Mlle. de Beaumesnil, monsieur," answered the hunchback, still in the same quiet tone.

M. de Mornand shrugged his shoulders disdainfully, then, turning to Ernestine, repeated:

"Will mademoiselle do me the honour to accept my arm?"

Embarrassed and bewildered, Ernestine turned to M. de Maillefort as if to ask his advice, and again the marquis repeated in the same quiet but impressive tone, emphasising each word strongly:

"Mlle. de Beaumesnil can not and must not dance with M. de Mornand."

Ernestine was so impressed by M. de Maillefort's grave, almost solemn manner that, turning to M. de Mornand, she said, casting down her eyes:

"I must beg you to excuse me, monsieur, for I feel too fatigued to keep the promise I made you."

M. de Mornand bowed low before Ernestine without uttering a word, but as he straightened himself up he cast a meaning glance at the hunchback.

That gentleman answered it by pointing to one of the doors of the gallery towards which he, too, directed his steps, leaving Mlle. de Beaumesnil in a state of great mental perturbation.

This little scene had passed unnoticed, the few words interchanged between the marquis and M. de Mornand having been uttered in subdued tones and in the midst of the confusion that always accompanies the forming of a quadrille, so no one but Madame de la Rochaiguë and the Duchesse de Senneterre had the slightest suspicion of what had occurred.

M. de Mornand on his way to the gallery was accosted successively by M. de la Rochaiguë and M. de Ravil, who had watched with mingled wonder and uneasiness their protégé's futile efforts to induce the heiress to keep her engagement.

"What! you are not going to dance?" inquired De Ravil.

"What has happened, my dear M. de Mornand?" asked the baron, in his turn. "I thought I saw you talking with that accursed hunchback, whose insolence and audacity really exceed all bounds."

"You are right, monsieur," replied the prospective minister, his face darkening. "M. de Maillefort seems to think he can do anything he pleases. Such insolence as his must be put a stop to. He actually had the impertinence to forbid your ward's dancing with me."

"And she obeyed him?" exclaimed the baron.

"What else could the poor girl do after such an injunction?"

"Why this is abominable, outrageous, inconceivable!" exclaimed the baron. "I will go to my ward at once, and – "

"That is useless now," said M. de Mornand. Then, turning to Ravil, he added:

"Come with me. I must have an explanation with M. de Maillefort. He is waiting for me in the gallery."

"I, too, will accompany you," added the baron.

As the three gentlemen approached the hunchback, they saw Messrs. de Morainville and d'Hauterive standing beside him, as well as five or six other men who had been assembled at the request of the marquis.

"M. de Maillefort, I have a few words of explanation to ask of you," said M. de Mornand, in coldly polite tones.

"I am at your service, monsieur."

"Then, if agreeable to you, you and I will go to the picture-gallery. Ask one of your friends to accompany you."

"I am not disposed to comply with your request, monsieur, for I intend to have our explanation as public as possible."

"Monsieur?"

"I do not see why you should fear publicity if I do not."

"So be it, then," responded M. de Mornand, "so I ask you here before these gentleman, why, when I had the honour to invite a certain young lady to dance a few minutes ago, you took the liberty of saying to that young lady, 'Mlle. de Beaumesnil can not and must not dance with M. de Mornand.' Those were your very words."

"Those were my very words, monsieur. You have an excellent memory. I hope it will not play you false, presently."

"And I wish to say to M. de Maillefort," interposed the baron, "that he arrogates to himself an authority, a right, and a surveillance which belong to me exclusively, for in telling my ward that – "

"My dear baron," said the marquis, smilingly, interrupting M. de la Rochaiguë, "you are a model, paragon, and example for all guardians, past, present and future, as I will prove to you later, but permit me now to reply to M. de Mornand, whom I have just had the honour to congratulate upon his excellent memory, and to ask him if he recollects something I said to him at a certain matinée dansante given by the Duchesse de Senneterre, – something in relation to a slight scratch that was intended to fix in his memory a date which I might have occasion to remind him of at some future day."

"That is true, monsieur," said M. de Mornand, "but that affair has not the slightest connection with the explanation I just demanded of you."

"On the contrary, monsieur, this explanation is the natural consequence of that affair."

"Be more explicit, if you please, monsieur."

"I will. At that entertainment at the house of Madame de Senneterre, in the garden, under a clump of lilacs, in the presence of several gentlemen, and notably M. de Morainville and M. d'Hauterive here, you had the audacity to calumniate Madame la Comtesse de Beaumesnil in the most shameless manner."

"Monsieur!"

"Without either compassion or consideration for an unfortunate lady who was then lying at the point of death," continued the hunchback, interrupting M. de Mornand, indignantly, "you insulted her in the most cowardly manner and even went so far as to say that no honourable man would ever marry the daughter of such a mother as Madame de Beaumesnil."

And at a hasty movement on the part of M. de Mornand, who was white with rage, the marquis, turning to Messrs. de Morainville and d'Hauterive, asked:

"Is it not true that M. de Mornand made that remark in your presence, gentlemen?"

"M. de Mornand did make that remark in our presence," they replied. "It is impossible for us to deny the fact."

"And I, myself, unseen by you, heard you make it, monsieur," continued the hunchback, "and, carried away with just indignation, I could not help exclaiming, 'Scoundrel!'"

"So it was you!" cried Mornand, furious to see all his hopes of future wealth thus rudely blighted.

"Yes, it was I, and that is why I just told Mlle. de Beaumesnil that she could not and should not dance with you, monsieur, – a man who had publicly defamed her mother; and I leave it to these gentlemen here if I have not done perfectly right to interfere in this matter."

A silence that was anything but complimentary to M. de Mornand followed the words of the hunchback.

De Ravil alone ventured to speak. It was in an ironical tone.

"M. le marquis must be trying to pose as a paladin or knight-errant to inflict a wound upon a gallant gentleman, as a sort of memento, merely to prevent him from dancing a quadrille with Mlle. de Beaumesnil some day."

"Or rather to prevent M. de Mornand from marrying Mlle. de Beaumesnil, monsieur," corrected the marquis, "for your friend is as mercenary as Mlle. de Beaumesnil is rich, which is saying a good deal, and in the conversation I overheard at Madame de Senneterre's dance, M. de Mornand betrayed his intentions even at that early day. By defaming Madame de Beaumesnil's character, and making the disgraceful effects of his calumnies extend to the daughter, and even to any man who might wish to marry her, M. de Mornand hoped to drive away all rivals. This infamous conduct exasperated me beyond endurance. In my indignation the word 'Scoundrel!' escaped me. I subsequently devised a way to offer M. de Mornand the reparation due him, however. Hence the wound which was to serve as a sort of memento, and hence my resolve to prevent M. de Mornand from marrying Mlle. de Beaumesnil, and I have succeeded, for I defy him now to venture into the presence of the richest heiress in France, even if he delivers a dozen more philanthropical speeches on the cod fisheries, or even under your protection, baron, – you the most exemplary, admirable, and high-minded of guardians, who were not only willing, but eager, to sacrifice your ward's happiness and welfare to your absurd ambition."

And as no one made any attempt to reply, the hunchback continued: