The first course was served with the characteristic moderation of Berrichon servants, and discussed with the premeditated moderation of well-bred people who do not choose to be considered gluttons. This patient deglutition, the long pauses between every mouthful, the host's anecdotes between the courses, are still esteemed the elements of good breeding among the old men in Berry. The peasants of our day have carried the same theory still farther, and, when you break bread with them, you can be certain of remaining three full hours at the table, though there be nothing upon it but a bit of cheese and a bottle of sour wine. D'Alvimar, whose active and restless mind could not fall asleep in the joys of eating, took advantage of Monsieur de Beuvre's stately mastication to talk with his daughter, who ate quickly and sparingly, paying more attention to her father and her guest than to herself. He was surprised to find so much wit in a country girl who had never gone beyond the limits of her own domain, save for one or two trips to Bourges and Nevers. Lauriane was not very well cultivated, and it may be that she could not have written a long letter without making mistakes in grammar; but she talked well, and, by dint of listening while her father and his neighbors discussed the affairs of the time, she was familiar with history, and accurate in her judgment thereof, from the reign of Louis XII. and the first religious wars. However, as she gloried in her descent from Charlotte d'Albret, as that martyr's memory was in her eyes worthy of reverence and was revered by her, she had no occasion to let D'Alvimar see that she was a heretic; moreover, the laws of civility of that period ordained that people should never discuss their own religious beliefs without adequate cause, even when they were of the same communion; for the shades of belief were without number, and controversy was rampant everywhere. In addition to her delicate tact and great good sense, there was a flavor of frankness and mischief in her wit, a purely Berrichon combination, the result of a blending of two contrary qualities being a decidedly original way of looking at things and of speaking. She was of the province where the truth is told with a smile on the lips, and where everyone knows that he is understood without having to lose his temper. D'Alvimar, who was overbearing rather than affable, and more vindictive than sincere, felt somewhat abashed in presence of that young woman, nor had he any very clear conception of the cause of that feeling. At times it seemed to him that she divined his character, his past life, or his recent adventure, and that her manner seemed to say to him: "For all that, we are none the less hospitable folk, ready to entertain you."