Sabron, indeed, looked well. He was thin, deeply bronzed by the exposure on the yacht, for he and Tremont before returning to France had made a long cruise. Sabron wore the look of a man who has come back from a far country and is content. "And never shall I forget to the end of my days how Monsieur le Capitaine looked when I met the yacht at Marseilles!" Brunet spoke reverently, as though he were chronicling sacred souvenirs. "I said to myself, you are about to welcome back a hero, Brunet! Monsieur le Capitaine will be as weak as a child. But I was determined that Monsieur le Capitaine should not read my feelings, however great my emotion." Sabron smiled. At no time in his simple life did Brunet ever conceal the most trifling emotion--his simple face revealed all his simple thoughts. Sabron said heartily: "Your control was very fine, indeed." "Instead of seeing a sick man, Monsieur le Capitaine, a splendid-looking figure, with red cheeks and bright eyes came off the boat to the shore. I said to myself: 'Brunet, he has the air of one who comes back from a victory.' No one would have ever believed that Monsieur le Capitaine had been rescued from captivity." Brunet's curiosity was very strong and as far as his master was concerned he had been obliged to crush it down. To himself he was saying: "Monsieur le Capitaine is on the eve of some great event. When will he announce it to me? I am _sure_ my master is going to be married." Pitchouné, from a chair near by, assisted at his master's toilet, one moment holding the razor-strop between his teeth, then taking the clothes brush in his little grip. He was saying to himself: "I hope in the name of rats and cats my master is not going out without me!" Brunet was engaged to be married to the kitchen maid of the Marquise d'Esclignac. _Ordonnances_ and scullions are not able to arrange their matrimonial affairs so easily as are the upper classes. "Monsieur le Capitaine," said the servant, his simple face raised to his master's, "I am going to be married." Sabron wheeled around: "_Mon_ brave Brunet, when?" Brunet grinned sheepishly. "In five years, Monsieur le Capitaine," at which the superior officer laughed heartily. "Is she an infant, are you educating her?" "When one is the eldest son of a widow," said Brunet with a sigh, "and the eldest of ten children--" The clock struck the quarter. Sabron knew the story of the widow and ten children by heart. "Is the taxi at the door?" "Yes, Monsieur le Capitaine." Pitchouné gave a sharp bark. "You are not invited," said his master cruelly, and went gaily out, his sword hitting against the stairs. * * * * * * *