Thaddeus went to his own room to dress with a joyful heart, though
shaken by an inward dread. He went down at the last moment and behaved
through dinner as he had done on the first occasion, that is, like a
soldier fit only for his duties as a steward. But this time Clementine
was not his dupe; his glance had enlightened her. The Marquis de
Ronquerolles, one of the ablest diplomates after Talleyrand, who had
served with de Marsay during his short ministry, had been informed by
his niece of the real worth and character of Comte Paz, and knew how
modestly he made himself the steward of his friend Laginski.
"And why is this the first time I have the pleasure of seeing Comte
Paz?" asked the marquis.
"Because he is so shy and retiring," replied Clementine with a look at
Paz telling him to change his behavior.
Alas! that we should have to avow it, at the risk of rendering the
captain less interesting, but Paz, though superior to his friend Adam,
was not a man of parts. His apparent superiority was due to his
misfortunes. In his lonely and poverty-stricken life in Warsaw he had
read and taught himself a good deal; he had compared and meditated.
But the gift of original thought which makes a great man he did not
possess, and it can never be acquired. Paz, great in heart only,
approached in heart to the sublime; but in the sphere of sentiments,
being more a man of action than of thought, he kept his thoughts to
himself; and they only served therefore to eat his heart out.
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