3671. Finally she sent for her principal carriage driver and
asked him, point blank what had happened to her little Alexis, in a tone of
voice trembling with emotion and fear. The driver explained everything that had
transpired, coldly overlooking his Mistress’ distress.
3672. He
concluded sententiously, “In a case like this, which smacks of a tendency to
revolutionary attitudes, a serf is simply sent off into the army, and so you
need not concern yourself over much about him because you certainly will not be
seeing him for another twenty-five years.
3673. What do you suppose caused the old coachman to dismiss
Alexis in that way, and so deliberately compound the distress of his Mistress?
Why, it was simply jealousy. He had watched over the past year the growing fondness
of his Lady for the boy and knew for a fact that in time his apprentice would
replace him.
3674. He had seen it so often before. He could not help but
notice that Alexis was getting new coats and boots on a regular basis, and his own
uniform was becoming threadbare in the most conspicuous places, and yet
received no attention at all.
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