Having thus relieved his feelings,
Orlando turned and walked to the door of the reception-room, but was
stopped by the old man rushing at him. Swinging round, Orlando almost
filled the doorway.
"You devil's spawn," Mazarine almost shouted, "get out of that doorway. I
want my wife. You needn't try to hide her. You thief! You lecherous
circus rider! Stand aside--leper!"
Orlando coolly stretched out his elbows till they touched the sides of
the door, and as the crowd pressed, he said to them mockingly:
"Get back, boys. Give him air. Can't you see he's gasping for breath."
Then he giggled again.
The old man looked round at the crowd, but he saw no sympathy--only
aversion and ridicule. Suddenly he snatched his little black-bound Bible
from his pocket, and held it up.
"What does this Book say?" he thundered. "It says that a wife shall
cleave unto her husband until death. For the seducer and the betrayer
death is the portion."
The whistle of the incoming train was heard in the distance.
The old man was desperate. It was clear he meant to assault Orlando. "You
will only take her away over my dead body," he ground out in his passion.
"The Lord gave, and only the Lord shall take away." He gathered himself
together for the attack.
Orlando waved a hand at him as one would at a troublesome child. At that
instant, his mother stepped up behind him in the reception-room.
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