"You had not called my godfather, Anne de Montmorenci a girl, M.le Vidame!" For though we counted it a joke among ourselves that we all bore girls' names, we were young enough to be sensitive about it.
He shrugged his shoulders.

And how he dwarfed us all as he stood there dominating our terrace! "M.

de Montmorenci was a man," he said scornfully.

"M.

Anne de Caylus is--" And the villain deliberately turned his great back upon us, taking his seat on the low wall near Catherine's chair.