One or two
porters ran up and endeavoured, with Tiler and myself, to rescue my
lord from his cowardly assailant. A crowd quickly gathered around us,
many passengers and a number of idlers, who drop from nowhere, as it
might be, all drawn to the spot by overmastering curiosity. Everybody
talked at the same time, asking questions, volunteering answers, some
laughing shamelessly at my lord's discomfiture, a few expressing
indignation, and declaring that such a scandal should not be
permitted, and the guilty parties held strictly to account.
The gendarmes on duty--a couple of them are always at hand in a French
railway station--soon appeared, and, taking in the situation at the
first glance, imposed silence peremptorily.
"Let some one, one person only, speak and explain." The brigadier, or
sergeant, addressed himself to me, no doubt seeing that I had assumed
a prominent place in the forefront, and seemed a person of importance.
"Monsieur here," I said, pointing to the Colonel, who, in spite of all
we could do, still held my lord tight, "was the aggressor, as you can
see for yourselves.
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