“—­whereas, it being purely a quality of the heart, and proceeding by feeling, not reason, its reach is correspondingly wider and sublimer, enabling it to perceive and avoid dangers that haven’t any existence at all; as, for instance, that night in the fog, when the Paladin took his horse’s ears for hostile lances and got off and climbed a tree—­”

“It’s a lie! a lie without shadow of foundation, and I call upon you all to beware you give credence to the malicious inventions of this ramshackle slander-mill that has been doing its best to destroy my character for years, and will grind up your own reputations for you next.  I got off to tighten my saddle-girth—­I wish I may die in my tracks if it isn’t so—­and whoever wants to believe it can, and whoever don’t can let it alone.”

“There, that is the way with him, you see; he never can discuss a theme temperately, but always flies off the handle and becomes disagreeable.  And you notice his defect of memory.  He remembers getting off his horse, but forgets all the rest, even the tree.  But that is natural; he would remember getting off the horse because he was so used to doing it.  He always did it when there was an alarm and the clash of arms at the front.”

“Why did he choose that time for it?” asked Jean.

“I don’t know.  To tighten up his girth, he thinks, to climb a tree, I think; I saw him climb nine trees in a single night.”

“You saw nothing of the kind!  A person that can lie like that deserves no one’s respect.  I ask you all to answer me.  Do you believe what this reptile has said?”

All seemed embarrassed, and only Pierre replied.  He said, hesitatingly: 

“I—­well, I hardly know what to say.  It is a delicate situation.  It seems offensive to me to refuse to believe a person when he makes so direct a statement, and yet I am obliged to say, rude as it may appear, that I am not able to believe the whole of it—­no, I am not able to believe that you climbed nine trees.”

“There!” cried the Paladin; “now what do you think of yourself, Noel Rainguesson?  How many do you believe I climbed, Pierre?”

“Only eight.”

The laughter that followed inflamed the Paladin’s anger to white heat, and he said: 

“I bide my time—­I bide my time.  I will reckon with you all, I promise you that!”

“Don’t get him started,” Noel pleaded; “he is a perfect lion when he gets started.  I saw enough to teach me that, after the third skirmish.  After it was over I saw him come out of the bushes and attack a dead man single-handed.”

“It is another lie; and I give you fair warning that you are going too far.  You will see me attack a live one if you are not careful.”

“Meaning me, of course.  This wounds me more than any number of injurious and unkind speeches could do.  In gratitude to one’s benefactor—­”

“Benefactor?  What do I owe you, I should like to know?”