'"
"It is not true," said the General.
"If I wasn't angry!" said Madame, making a pretty fist. 'How can that
be?' I said. 'Well,' she said, 'mamma says he has been angry with his
son for fifteen years.' 'But what did his son do?' I said. 'Nothing,'
said she. '_Ma foi_,' I said, 'me, I too would be angry if my son had
done nothing for fifteen years'--ho, ho, ho!"
"It is not true," said the General.
The old General cleared his throat, and smiled as by compulsion.
"You know, General," said Madame, looking distressed, "it was nothing to
joke about, but I had to say so, because I did not know what your son
had done, nor did I wish to hear any thing against one who has the honor
to call you his father."
She paused a moment to let the flattery take effect, and then proceeded:
"But then another lady said to me; she said, 'For shame, Clarisse, to
laugh at good Dr. Mossy; nobody--neither General Villivicencio, neither
any other, has a right to be angry against that noble, gentle, kind,
brave'"--
"Brave!" said the General, with a touch of irony.
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