He had not the opinion which Louis
XIV. could have of himself, but that which the proudest of the
Caliphs, the Pharoahs, the Xerxes, who held themselves to be of divine
origin, had of themselves when they imitated God, and veiled
themselves from their subjects under the pretext that their looks
dealt forth death. Thus, without any remorse at being at once the
judge and the accuser, De Marsay coldly condemned to death the man or
the woman who had seriously offended him. Although often pronounced
almost lightly, the verdict was irrevocable. An error was a misfortune
similar to that which a thunderbolt causes when it falls upon a
smiling Parisienne in some hackney coach, instead of crushing the old
coachman who is driving her to a _rendezvous_. Thus the bitter and
profound sarcasm which distinguished the young man's conversation
usually tended to frighten people; no one was anxious to put him out.
Women are prodigiously fond of those persons who call themselves
pashas, and who are, as it were accompanied by lions and executioners,
and who walk in a panoply of terror. The result, in the case of such
men, is a security of action, a certitude of power, a pride of gaze, a
leonine consciousness, which makes women realize the type of strength
of which they all dream. Such was De Marsay.
Happy, for the moment, with his future, he grew young and pliable, and
thought of nothing but love as he went to bed. He dreamed of the girl
with the golden eyes, as the young and passionate can dream.
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