"
"Why?" asked Cyrillon quietly.
"My dear young man! Can you ask? Why emphasise the fact of your
illegitimacy to the public!"
"Why disguise it?" returned Cyrillon. "You must remember that I have
another public than the merely social,--the people! They all know
what I am, and who I am. They have honoured me. They shall not
despise me. And they would despise me if I sought to hold back from
them what my father bade me tell. Moreover, this will gives my
mother the honour of wifehood in the sight of God,--and I must tell
you, monsieur l'avocat, that I am one of those who care nothing what
the world says so long as I stand more or less clear with the
world's Creator!"
His great dark eyes were brilliant,--his face warm with the fire of
his inward feeling. Monsieur Petitot folded up his document and
looked at him with an amiable tolerance.
"Wonderful--wonderful!" he said--"But of course eccentricities WILL
appear in the world occasionally!--and you must pardon me if I
venture to think that you are certainly one of them. But I imagine
you have nograsped the whole position. The money--I should saythe
fortune--which your father has left to you, will make you a
gentleman--"
He paused, affrighted.
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