“Plutarch?  Nothing of the sort!” answered Genestas.  “I am not worthy of you; I could thrash myself.  I ought to have told you my secret in a straightforward way at the first.  Yet, now!  It is quite as well that I wore a mask, and came here myself in search of information concerning you, for now I know that I must hold my tongue.  If I had set about this business in the right fashion it would have been painful to you, and God forbid that I should give you the slightest annoyance.”

“But I do not understand you, commandant.”

“Let the matter drop.  I am not ill; I have spent a pleasant day, and I will go back to-morrow.  Whenever you come to Grenoble, you will find that you have one more friend there, who will be your friend through thick and thin.  Pierre Joseph Genestas’ sword and purse are at your disposal, and I am yours to the last drop of my blood.  Well, after all, your words have fallen on good soil.  When I am pensioned off, I will look for some out-of-the-way little place, and be mayor of it, and try to follow your example.  I have not your knowledge, but I will study at any rate.”

“You are right, sir; the landowner who spends his time in convincing a commune of the folly of some mistaken notion of agriculture, confers upon his country a benefit quite as great as any that the most skilful physician can bestow.  The latter lessens the sufferings of some few individuals, and the former heals the wounds of his country.  But you have excited my curiosity to no common degree.  Is there really something in which I can be of use to you?”

“Of use?” repeated the commandant in an altered voice.

“Mon Dieu! I was about to ask you to do me a service which is all but impossible, M. Benassis.  Just listen a moment!  I have killed a good many Christians in my time, it is true; but you may kill people and keep a good heart for all that; so there are some things that I can feel and understand, rough as I look.”

“But go on!”

“No, I do not want to give you any pain if I can help it.”

“Oh! commandant, I can bear a great deal.”

“It is a question of a child’s life, sir,” said the officer, nervously.

Benassis suddenly knitted his brows, but by a gesture he entreated Genestas to continue.

“A child,” repeated the commandant, “whose life may yet be saved by constant watchfulness and incessant care.  Where could I expect to find a doctor capable of devoting himself to a single patient?  Not in a town, that much was certain.  I had heard you spoken of as an excellent man, but I wished to be quite sure that this reputation was well founded.  So before putting my little charge into the hands of this M. Benassis of whom people spoke so highly, I wanted to study him myself.  But now——­”

“Enough,” said the doctor; “so this child is yours?”

“No, no, M. Benassis.  To clear up the mystery, I should have to tell you a long story, in which I do not exactly play the part of a hero; but you have given me your confidence and I can readily give you mine.”