Page:The little blue devil (IA littlebluedevil00mackiala).pdf/28
CHAPTER III
DRIFTWOOD
The jumping dark when the candle dies,
The dragoman’s kurbash that cuts and stings,
The creepy look in my father’s eyes.
For I’m too little to manage yet—
I’ll do what never my father did,
For I will settle a heavy debt.”
Achille Chambasse let Tony go without much objection, and what he did make was mainly histrionic. True, it was not convenient to lose his mousse just then, but as the matter-of-fact Antoine reminded him (not meaning to be in the least annoying) he had often said that the world was overflowing with millions of better and more useful boys. He was fond of Tony too, and the boy’s proud mouth and anxious eyes touched him. If it had been his small Pierre-Edouard standing there asking for a chance of education—nom d’un nom! After all, there was no denying that the boy was well-born and should not be allowed to grow up like the beasts, and these religieux were of his mother’s people that was well too. Enfin, he would make a sacrifice and Antoine should go, and take his wages into the bargain. Let Antoine embrace him (this was a ceremony that Tony had never learnt to undergo otherwise than as a trial). And when the Deux-Frères called again at Smyrna Antoine should come down and see them all and show off his learning. “Bien! Es-tu content, mon rat?”