The position, you see, had its humiliations. But, if Andre-Louis
would hope to dine, he must begin by eating his pride as an hors
d'oeuvre.
"And so," he said, controlling a grimace, "the robe yields not only
to the sword, but to the broom as well. Be it so. I stay."
It is characteristic of him that, having made that choice, he should
have thrown himself into the work with enthusiasm. It was ever his
way to do whatever he did with all the resources of his mind and
energies of his body. When he was not instructing very young
gentlemen in the elements of the art, showing them the elaborate and
intricate salute - which with a few days' hard practice he had
mastered to perfection - and the eight guards, he was himself hard
at work on those same guards, exercising eye, wrist, and knees.
Perceiving his enthusiasm, and seeing the obvious possibilities it
opened out of turning him into a really effective assistant, M.
des Amis presently took him more seriously in hand.
"Your application and zeal, my friend, are deserving of more than
forty livres a month," the master informed him at the end of a week.
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