ten o'clock, leaving the other guests, who had ceased to tell
anecdotes and were now boasting of their various good qualities, with
their viscous lips glued to the glasses which they could not drain.

"Well, my dear," said Maxime, "you are not mistaken; yes, I have come
for your /beaux yeux/ and for help in a great affair. You must leave
Arthur; but I pledge myself to make him give you two hundred thousand
francs."

"Why should I leave the poor fellow?"

"To marry that idiot, who seems to have been sent from Alencon
expressly for the purpose. He has been a judge, and I'll have him made
chief-justice in place of Emile Blondet's father, who is getting to be
eighty years old. Now, if you know how to sail your boat, your husband
can be elected deputy. You will both be personages, and you can then
look down on Madame la Comtesse du Bruel."

"Never!" said Madame Schontz; "she's a countess."

"Hasn't he condition enough to be made a count?"

"By the bye, he bears arms," cried Aurelie, hunting for a letter in an
elegant bag hanging at the corner of the fireplace, and giving it to
Maxime. "What do they mean? Here are combs."

"He bears: per fesse argent and azure; on the first, three combs
gules, two and one, crossed by three bunches grapes purpure, leaved
vert, one and two; on the second, four feathers or, placed fretwise,
with /Servir/ for motto, and a squire's helmet. It is not much; it