78 THE SHIPWRECK,

“ Perhaps not; but I a you again, do not attempt to
molest me Spihout cause.”

So saying, he retired into his cabin, dearing the count
to his reflections.

The brief but fierce altercation which had just termi-

.nated greatly disturbed the count’s equanimity. He

thought of Philip’s physical superiority—of the worthless-
ness of his own rank in this desert isle ; his conscience too
reproached him with the injuries and provocations he had
inflicted upon this poor young man; and then he would
wonder at Merville’s forbearance, in not availing himself
of his superior bodily strength to take revenge for all that
he had suffered from him on board the Achilles, and even
long previously.