A curt "Mind your own business" would have been less wounding.

He forgot that this word "stranger" was the most deadly insult that one could cast in the face of the former _emigres_, who had returned with the allied armies.
Still the young marquis did not change his insolently nonchalant attitude.
He touched the visor of his hunting cap with his finger, and replied: "It is true--I have lost my way." Agitated as Marie-Anne was, she could not fail to understand that her presence was all that restrained the hatred of these two young men.
Their attitude, the glance with which they measured each other, did not leave the shadow of a doubt on that score.

If one was ready to spring upon the other, the other was on the alert, ready to defend himself.
The silence of nearly a moment which followed was as threatening as the profound calm which precedes the storm.
Martial was the first to break it.
"A peasant's directions are not generally remarkable for their clearness," he said, lightly; "and for more than an hour I have been seeking the house to which Monsieur Lacheneur has retired." "Ah!" "I am sent to him by the Duc de Sairmeuse, my father." Knowing what he did, Maurice supposed that these strangely rapacious individuals had some new demand to make.
"I thought," said he, "that all relations between Monsieur Lacheneur and Monsieur de Sairmeuse were broken off last evening at the house of the abbe." This was said in the most provoking manner, and yet Martial never so much as frowned.

He had sworn that he would remain calm, and he had strength enough to keep his word.
"If these relations--as God forbid--have been broken off," he replied, "believe me, Monsieur d'Escorval, it is no fault of ours." "Then it is not as people say ?" "What people?
Who ?" "The people here in the neighborhood." "Ah! And what do these people say ?" "The truth.

That you have been guilty of an offence which a man of honor could never forgive nor forget." The young marquis shook his head gravely.
"You are quick to condemn, sir," he said, coldly.