If
you have ambition, this is your moment."
"I have no ambition, I suppose," said Andre-Louis, and went his way.
That night at the theatre he had a mischievous impulse to test what
Le Chapelier had told him of the state of public feeling in the
city. They were playing "The Terrible Captain," in the last act of
which the empty cowardice of the bullying braggart Rhodomont is
revealed by Scaramouche.
After the laughter which the exposure of the roaring captain
invariably produced, it remained for Scaramouche contemptuously to
dismiss him in a phrase that varied nightly, according to the
inspiration of the moment. This time he chose to give his phrase
a political complexion:
"Thus, O thrasonical coward, is your emptiness exposed. Because
of your long length and the great sword you carry and the angle at
which you cock your hat, people have gone in fear of you, have
believed in you, have imagined you to be as terrible and as formidable
as you insolently make yourself appear. But at the first touch of
true spirit you crumple up, you tremble, you whine pitifully, and
the great sword remains in your scabbard.
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