After all, you couldn't help it if you were not a duke.

There were none in your country; but if there had been, it was certain that, smart and active as you are, you would have got the pick of the titles.

At this point I was ordered to sit down, but I think I made an impression in your favor." M.de Bellegarde looked at his brother with dangerous coldness, and gave a smile as thin as the edge of a knife.

Then he removed a spark of cigar-ash from the sleeve of his coat; he fixed his eyes for a while on the cornice of the room, and at last he inserted one of his white hands into the breast of his waistcoat.

"I must apologize to you for the deplorable levity of my brother," he said, "and I must notify you that this is probably not the last time that his want of tact will cause you serious embarrassment." "No, I confess I have no tact," said Valentin.