Hector recognized him. It was his oldest friend, a college mate;
they had once been very intimate, but the count not finding the
other fast enough for him, had little by little dropped his intimacy,
and had now lost sight of him for two years.
"Sauvresy!" he exclaimed, stupefied.
"Yes," said the young man, hot, and out of breath, "I've been watching
you the last two minutes; what were you doing here?"
"Why--nothing."
"How! What they told me at your house this morning was true, then!
I went there."
"What did they say?"
"That nobody knew what had become of you, and that you declated to
Jenny when you left her the night before that you were going to blow
your brains out. The papers have already announced your death, with
details."
This news seemed to have a great effect on the count.
"You see, then," he answered tragically, "that I must kill myself!"
"Why? In order to save the papers from the inconvenience of
correcting their error."
"People will say that I shrunk--"
"Oh, 'pon my word now! According to you, a man must make a fool
of himself because it has been reported that he would do it.
Absurd, old fellow.
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