Leblanc received this proposal with a modest
confusion that greatly enhanced the king's opinion of his admirable
simplicity. He pointed out that eager as he was to snatch at the
proffered distinction, it might at the present stage appear invidious,
and he therefore suggested that the conferring of it should be postponed
until it could be made the crown and conclusion of his services. The
king was unable to shake this resolution, and the two men parted with
expressions of mutual esteem.
The king then summoned Firmin in order to make a short note of a number
of things that he had said during the day. But after about twenty
minutes' work the sweet sleepiness of the mountain air overcame him, and
he dismissed Firmin and went to bed and fell asleep at once, and slept
with extreme satisfaction. He had had an active, agreeable day.
Section 5
The establishment of the new order that was thus so humanly begun,
was, if one measures it by the standard of any preceding age, a rapid
progress. The fighting spirit of the world was exhausted. Only here
or there did fierceness linger. For long decades the combative side
in human affairs had been monstrously exaggerated by the accidents of
political separation. This now became luminously plain. An enormous
proportion of the force that sustained armaments had been nothing more
aggressive than the fear of war and warlike neighbours.
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