"Really, monsieur? Well, I was sure of it, and I am so pleased that I don't know where I am. Just fancy, monsieur, that that red hackney whom you call Bellinde, and who would be better named Tisiphone----" "Fie! fie, Adamas! You know that I do not like to hear one of the sex spoken of in a slighting manner. What new trouble is there between you?" "Pardon me, my noble master, but the trouble is that that ill-tempered creature listens at doors, and that she knows of the step monsieur has taken to-day. Only a little while ago she was laughing about it like a cackling hen with that stupid housekeeper of the rector." "How do you know that, Adamas?" "I know it by magic, monsieur; but, at all events, I know it!" "By magic? Since when have you been dabbling in the occult sciences?" "I will tell you, monsieur. I have nothing to hide from you, but will you not deign to tell me first how you made your sentiments known to the peerless lady of your thoughts, and how she replied; for I am sure that nothing so eloquent was ever said under the heavens since the world was made, and I would like to be able to write as fast as Master Jovelin, so that I could put it on paper as monsieur repeats it to me." "No, Adamas, no word of it shall ever issue from my mouth, sealed as it is by the oath of a loyal knight. I swore that I would not divulge the secret of my felicity. All that I can say to you, my friend, is to rejoice now with your master, and to hope with him in the future!" "Then it is all arranged, is it, monsieur, and----" Adamas was interrupted by a soft scratching, as of a cat, at the door. "Ah!" he said, after he had looked out, "it is the child; he wants to bid you good-night.--Go away, my young friend, monseigneur will see you later; he is busy now." "Yes, yes, Adamas, let him come again! I have something to say about children. Some very strange ideas on the subject of paternity came into my head yesterday. This freak is worthy of the lowest bourgeois! No! no! I am no longer the old bachelor who wanted to marry in hot haste, to have done with it. I am a young man, Adamas, yes, a young lover, a dandy, on my word, affectionately sentenced to prove his constancy by the test of time, to sigh and write poetry; in a word, to await, in the torments and ecstasies of hope, the good pleasure of my sovereign." "If I understand rightly," said Adamas, "this jealous divinity mistrusts my master's fickle humor, and demands that he renounce all love-making!" "Yes, yes, that is it, Adamas; that must be it! A little distrust! That is a fitting punishment for my wild youth; but I shall be so well able to prove my sincerity--Go to the door; he is still knocking!" "What!" said Adamas seriously to Mario, opening the door slightly, "is it you again, my little imp? Did I not tell you to wait?"