Then, with an inarticulate cry, he leaned forward, and with his open hand struck M.le Marquis full and hard upon his sneering face.
In a flash M.de Chabrillane was on his feet, between the two men.
Too late Andre-Louis had seen the trap.

La Tour d'Azyr's words were but as a move in a game of chess, calculated to exasperate his opponent into some such counter-move as this--a counter-move that left him entirely at the other's mercy.
M.le Marquis looked on, very white save where M.de Vilmorin's finger-prints began slowly to colour his face; but he said nothing more.
Instead, it was M.de Chabrillane who now did the talking, taking up his preconcerted part in this vile game.
"You realize, monsieur, what you have done," said he, coldly, to Philippe.

"And you realize, of course, what must inevitably follow." M.de Vilmorin had realized nothing.

The poor young man had acted upon impulse, upon the instinct of decency and honour, never counting the consequences.

But he realized them now at the sinister invitation of M.
de Chabrillane, and if he desired to avoid these consequences, it was out of respect for his priestly vocation, which strictly forbade such adjustments of disputes as M.de Chabrillane was clearly thrusting upon him.
He drew back.