It becomes a matter of self-
preservation. I am in too deep water; I must keep on. I can not
now turn back; the first shore is too far away."
"Even villainy has its inconveniences," Maurice observed.
"What do you call villainy?"
"An act in which a man accepts pay from one to ruin him for
another. That is villainy, without a single saving grace, for
you are a native neither of the kingdom nor the duchy."
"That is plain language. You do not take into consideration the
villain's motives. There may be certain ends necessary as his
life's blood, which may be gained only by villainy, which, after
all, is a hard name for political conspiracy."
"Oh, I do not suppose you are worse than the majority. But it
appeals to me as rather a small, unmanly game when your victims
are a man who is dying and a girl who knows nothing of the world
nor its treachery."
An almost imperceptible smile passed over Beauvais's countenance.
"So her Highness has captured your sympathies?" with a shade of
banter.
"I admit that; she would capture the sympathies of any man who
has a good pair of eyes in his head. But you do not seem to be
in favor just at present," banter for banter.
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