"
He stood up that they might see his size. Although only a boy in years,
he was as large and strong as de Mezy, and his eyes were clearer and his
muscles much firmer. A hum of approval came from the spectators, who now
numbered more than a score, but the approval was given for different
reasons. Some, and they belonged to the _honnetes gens_, were glad to
see de Mezy rebuked and hoped that he would be punished; others, the
following of Bigot, Cadet, Pean and their corrupt crowd, were eager to
see the Bostonnais suffer for his insolence to one of their number. But
most of them, both the French of old France and the French of Canada,
chivalric of heart, were resolved to see fair play.
Monsieur Berryer shrugged his shoulders, but made no protest. The affair
to his mind managed itself very well. There had been none of the
violence that he had apprehended. The quarrel evidently was one of
gentlemen, carried out in due fashion, and the shedding of blood would
occur in the proper place and not in his inn. And yet it would be an
advertisement.
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