"Throw yourself at my feet," cried he impetuously; "drag yourself in the dust, kiss the ground before me, and demand pardon and mercy of me! At this price I will grant you, not my affection certainly, but my indulgence and pity." "Impossible!" answered Gilbert, shaking his head. "I am like you; I should not know how to kneel, unless someone stronger than myself constrained me by violence. Oh, no! in such a performance I should lose even the hope of being some day esteemed by you. The more so as in the trial to which I wish you would subject me, I should desire to have some danger to brave, some difficulty to surmount." Stephane could not conceal his astonishment. Never in all his life had he heard language like this. Nevertheless, distrust and pride triumphed still over every other feeling. "Since you wish it!" said he, sneering . . . and he drew a kid glove from one of his pockets, rubbed it between his hands and threw it to the bulldog, who caught in his teeth and kept it there. "Vorace," said he to him, "keep your master's glove between your teeth, watch it well; you will answer to me for it." Then turning to Gilbert,--"Sir, will you please restore my glove to me? I should be infinitely obliged to you for it." "Ah! this is then the trial to which you will subject me?" answered Gilbert with a smile upon his lips. Stephane looked him in the face. For the first time, he could not avoid being struck by its noble expression and the clearness and purity of his glance. Stephane was involuntarily moved, and strove in vain to conceal it by the jocular tone in which he replied: "No, sir, it is not a test of your sincerity, but a jest which we shall do well not to push further. This animal is not amiable. Should you be unfortunate enough to irritate him, it would be impossible even for me, his master, to calm his fury. Be good enough then to leave my glove where it is, and return peaceably to your study to meditate upon some important problem in Byzantine history. That will be a trial less perilous and better proportioned to your strength. Good-evening, sir, good-night." "Oh! permit me," replied Gilbert. "I am resolved to carry this adventure to its conclusion!" And gently repulsing Stephane, who sought to restrain him, he walked straight toward the bulldog. "Take care," cried the young man, shuddering, "do not trifle with that beast, or you are a dead man!" "Take care," repeated Ivan, who, not having understood half of what had been said, hardly suspected Gilbert's intention. "Take care, this dog is a ferocious beast."