Page:Elizabeth's Pretenders.djvu/237

224 "If I go, madame"—here he looked very directly at Elizabeth—"I do not return. I make it a rule in life never to go back."

The old professor, who had not yet spoken, but had caught his neighbour's glance across the table, and observed the girl's face flush, here observed, with his cynical smile—

Reculer pour mieux sauter' is not a bad proverb sometimes."

"Englishmen do not jump, monsieur. They walk straight to the target they mean to hit. If they miss it, they still walk straight on. They do not turn back. Useless."

Morin (laughing). "Pardon, monsieur. That sounds like a want of perseverance."

Elton. "No one has yet charged me with that. But a man with many calls on him must sometimes sacrifice inclination to duty. 'Duty' is the Englishman's word."

Doucet. "Duty? The greatest pleasure in life is to neglect one's duty."

The Professor. "Monsieur Doucet's life must be made up of pleasures."

''Mdme. de Belcour.'' "He has embodied the sentiment in a charming sonnet."

Doucet. "Which those idiots the critics could not understand!"

Morin (laughing). "And yet it is a sentiment which appeals to us all, I am sure."

Eliza. (quickly). "Not to me."

George. "No; not to any of us English. I agree with—Mr. Elton. 'Duty' is the Englishman's word. It is