They
will reproach me with occupying the bed still warm from Albert's body.
They will jest bitterly at my haste in taking possession. They will
certainly compare me to Albert, and the comparison will be to my
disadvantage, since I should appear to triumph at a time when a great
disaster has fallen upon our house."
The count listened without showing any signs of disapprobation,
struck perhaps by the justice of these reasons. Noel imagined that his
harshness was much more feigned than real; and this idea encouraged him.
"I beseech you then, sir," he continued, "to permit me for the present
in no way to change my mode of living, By not showing myself, I leave
all malicious remarks to waste themselves in air,--I let public opinion
the better familiarise itself with the idea of a coming change. There
is a great deal in not taking the world by surprise. Being expected, I
shall not have the air of an intruder on presenting myself. Absent,
I shall have the advantages which the unknown always possess; I shall
obtain the good opinion of all those who have envied Albert; and I
shall secure as champions all those who would to-morrow assail me, if
my elevation came suddenly upon them.
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