"
The President started. "D-n it," said he, "you must have something
better than that."
"I have no more money," added Florizel. "That is also a vexation,
without doubt. It brings my sense of idleness to an acute point."
The President rolled his cigar round in his mouth for some seconds,
directing his gaze straight into the eyes of this unusual neophyte;
but the Prince supported his scrutiny with unabashed good temper.
"If I had not a deal of experience," said the President at last, "I
should turn you off. But I know the world; and this much any way,
that the most frivolous excuses for a suicide are often the
toughest to stand by. And when I downright like a man, as I do
you, sir, I would rather strain the regulation than deny him."
The Prince and the Colonel, one after the other, were subjected to
a long and particular interrogatory: the Prince alone; but
Geraldine in the presence of the Prince, so that the President
might observe the countenance of the one while the other was being
warmly cross-examined. The result was satisfactory; and the
President, after having booked a few details of each case, produced
a form of oath to be accepted. Nothing could be conceived more
passive than the obedience promised, or more stringent than the
terms by which the juror bound himself. The man who forfeited a
pledge so awful could scarcely have a rag of honour or any of the
consolations of religion left to him.
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