"I can but believe," he thought, "that my good fortune rejuvenates me much, and that my neighbor, who used to gird at me so, does not deem me so venerable now. Where the devil did Adamas get the idea of suggesting that step to me?" Lauriane read his perplexity on his face and generously came to his assistance. "My honored father," she said, "this does not concern you, since our dear marquis did not ask for my hand without my heart; so that, inasmuch as my heart has not spoken, the marquis is free." "Ta! ta! ta!" cried De Beuvre, "your heart speaks very loud, my child, and it is easy to see, by your indulgence to the marquis, that it is of him that it speaks!" "Can it be true?" said Bois-Doré, faltering in his resolution; "if I had that good fortune, nephew or no nephew, by my faith!----" "No, marquis, no!" said Lauriane, determined to have done with her old Celadon's dreamy projects. "My heart has spoken, it is true, but only a moment ago, since I first saw your charming nephew. Destiny so willed, because of my very great affection for you, which made it impossible for me to have eyes except for someone of your family and someone who resembles you. Therefore I am the one to break the bond between us and declare myself unfaithful; but I do it without remorse, since he whom I prefer to you is as dear to you as to myself. Let us say no more about it then until Mario is old enough to entertain affection for me, if that blessed day is destined to arrive. Meanwhile, I will try to be patient, and we will remain friends." Bois-Doré, enchanted by this conclusion, warmly kissed the amiable Lauriane's hand; but at that moment a terrific fusillade made the windows rattle and brought all the guests to their feet. They ran to the windows. It was Adamas, making a terrific uproar with all the falconets, arquebuses and pistols that his little arsenal contained. At the same time they saw the marquis's vassals and all the people of the village thronging into the courtyard, shouting as if they would split their throats, in concert with all the retainers and servants of the château: "Vive monsieur le marquis! Vive monsieur le comte!" The good people were acting in implicit obedience to an order issued by Aristandre, having no idea what it was all about; but what they did know was that they were never summoned to the château without receiving a banquet or some form of bounty, and they came without urging. The windows of the salon were thrown open that the guests might listen to the harangue, in the form of a proclamation, which Adamas declaimed to that numerous audience. Standing on the well, which had been covered by his orders so that he might indulge without peril in animated pantomime, the radiant Adamas improvised the most dazzling bit of eloquence that his Gascon ingenuity had ever produced, that his ringing voice, with its soft southern inflection, had ever thrown to the echoes. His gesticulation was no less extraordinary than his diction.