And the husband replied:

"He is affable just because he is a baron."

"Especially," continued Menard, who had a.s.sumed a more important air since he had learned that their new acquaintance was a former dealer in wines, "especially as Monsieur le Comte de Montreville, my pupil, is of an exceedingly romantic turn."

"Ah! he is like me! he is just like me!" said the lady, with a sigh addressed to Dubourg; "I care for nothing but the romantic. I am mad over ghosts and elves--am I not, Monsieur Chambertin?"

"Yes, my wife has always been very fond of spirits," Monsieur Chambertin replied, with a smile.

"She had no lack of them with you," rejoined Dubourg.

"True, I had them all the way from twenty-four degrees to seventy."

"If madame should ever come to Poland," said Dubourg, "I trust that she will not fail to pa.s.s a few days at my castle of Krapach. She will see phantoms of all colors there; it's not so cheerful a place of residence as my castle at Cracow, but I would not part with it for two millions!

And yet, it brings me nothing but snow; but I have my reasons for being attached to it--eh, Monsieur Menard?"

"Peste! I should say so! a castle where you have entertained----"

"Hush, be still, Menard; that doesn't interest Monsieur and Madame Chambertin."

"I beg your pardon," said Chambertin, bowing once more; "we are too flattered to make the acquaintance of a Polish n.o.bleman--for I think that monsieur le baron is a Pole?"

"From my birth," replied Dubourg, turning his head away so that Menard might have an opportunity to say to them in an undertone:

"Monsieur le Baron Ladislas Potoski, Palatine of Rava and Sandomir."

When he heard those t.i.tles, the former wine merchant was like one stupefied; he dared not take a step forward or back, while Madame Chambertin twisted her mouth in every conceivable way, and did her utmost to do away with it altogether, in order to seduce the Palatine of Rava.

"Did you come here to see the ruins?" queried Dubourg, after giving his name and t.i.tles time to produce their due effect.

"Yes," replied Monsieur Chambertin; "we have not seen them yet, and one should be acquainted with his neighborhood. This Bayard must have had a very fine chateau, to judge by what is left of it; but he was a very good sort of man."

"He was a chevalier, wasn't he, my dear?" said Madame Chambertin, in a mincing tone.

"Yes, my love; a chevalier of the time of Louis XIV."

At that, Monsieur Menard coughed and glanced slyly at Dubourg.

"I like to see antiquities," continued Chambertin, "ancient monuments; they're interesting when one has a certain amount of education. Is monsieur le baron here for the same purpose?"

"Faith! we were in a decidedly bad humor when we met you," said Dubourg; "we walked here from Gren.o.ble, as we were told that it was a short three leagues, and I didn't care to wear out my horses in this mountainous country; but I hoped to find some decent inn hereabout, where we could dine; or at least some means of getting to the nearest village; I offered some peasants as much as six gold pieces to obtain a horse for me, and not one of the knaves moved.--Isn't that so, Menard?"

"It is quite true, monsieur le baron, that we couldn't find anything at all."

"Ah! my dear," whispered Madame Chambertin to her husband, "what a happy idea! what a chance!"

"I will seize it!" he replied; and he planted himself in front of Dubourg, with his feet in the third position.--"Monsieur le baron, if I wasn't afraid of presuming too far, if you would deign to accept a plain country gentleman's dinner, Madame Chambertin and I would be overjoyed to have at our table a distinguished n.o.bleman and a professor of literature. My cabriolet is waiting for us close by, with Lunel, my jockey; we shall be at Allevard in an hour, and my cabriolet will take monsieur le baron to Gren.o.ble this evening."

"Really, Monsieur de Chambertin, you are too kind," replied Dubourg, with a bow.

"He called me _De_ Chambertin!" said the ex-tradesman to his wife.

"I heard him."

"Do you suppose he means to make me a knight?"

"I believe he's quite capable of making you something."

"I am almost tempted to accept your invitation," said Dubourg; "it will afford me the pleasure of becoming better acquainted with some most delightful people.--What do you say, my dear Menard? Will it make Montreville anxious? Do you think that we might accept Monsieur de Chambertin's invitation to dinner?"

"Yes, certainly we may, monsieur le baron," replied Menard, who was so excited by the prospect that he took from his pocket the paper napkin in which the carca.s.s of the chicken was wrapped, and wiped his face with it, thinking that it was his handkerchief, and oblivious to the fact that he was besmearing himself with chicken jelly; but Monsieur and Madame Chambertin were in the seventh heaven and saw nothing of all that. To take home with them to dinner a great Polish n.o.bleman, a palatine! who had put a _de_ before monsieur's name, and who made eyes at madame--that was quite enough to turn their heads.

"The cabriolet will never hold four," said madame.

"Don't be alarmed, my dear; I will take Lunel's pony, and he will ride behind. Whenever monsieur le baron chooses----"

"Faith! let us go," said Dubourg; and he added in an undertone, as he offered the lady his hand: "All the ruins in the world could not prevail against you!"

They left the chateau, Dubourg with Madame Chambertin on his arm, while her husband ran ahead, and Menard followed, trying to discover the source of the smell of chicken which pursued him everywhere.

At a turn in the path, they discovered the cabriolet, in charge of a little man of about his master's years, who looked more like a butler than a jockey; beside him was an animal which, judging from its size and ears, was halfway between a horse and an a.s.s. Madame Chambertin entered the carriage with her two guests.

"Give me your nag, Lunel," said Monsieur Chambertin.

"And what am I to do, monsieur?"

"Get up behind the carriage."

"You know very well, monsieur, that I can't hold on there."

"Then you shall walk. The idiot! not to have learned yet to hold on behind a carriage!"

As he spoke, Monsieur Chambertin mounted the beast, and belabored him with his cane in default of a crop.

"Excuse me, if I ride ahead," he called to Dubourg; "but I have some orders to give."

"Oh! no ceremony for us, I beg you, Monsieur de Chambertin!" was the reply.

But the host was already far away; when he heard himself called _De_ Chambertin again, he took the bit in his teeth.

Dubourg took the reins and drove, which did not prevent him from making many very gallant speeches to Madame Chambertin en route, or from motioning to Menard to wipe his face. Lunel ran behind the cabriolet, consigning to the devil the strangers who were responsible for his master's taking his nag.

In due time they arrived at Allevard, a pretty village, through which flowed a mountain stream of considerable size that furnished power for a large number of windmills, iron foundries, and factories. Monsieur Chambertin's estate was on the right, just at the entrance to the village; it was a beautiful house, built according to modern ideas, and, as Madame Chambertin said, almost a chateau.

As they drove into a s.p.a.cious courtyard shaded by tall lindens, Dubourg secretly felicitated himself on the chance meeting, and began to think that Madame Chambertin still possessed a very attractive figure and very bright eyes. As for Menard, he had visions of a well-furnished kitchen, and he concluded that a man who owned such a charming estate deserved some consideration, although he was neither baron nor palatine.

Madame Chambertin escorted the strangers into a pretty salon on the ground floor, which looked on a beautiful garden behind the house.

Everything indicated wealth, profusion, and absence of taste. There were two clocks on the mantel, another on a console, a fourth on a desk. The furniture was costly, the floor covered with rich rugs, the walls overloaded with pictures, and three chandeliers hung from the ceiling.