"Disagreeable! come now, marquis! I got the worth of my money, as they say. I never laughed so much in my life! M. Robert appeared so solemnly determined not to pass for having a cold. You don't know what was the cause of the duel? The other night at the embassy, I asked him, before your wife and the Countess M'Gregor, how he got on with his cough; between us, he had not this inconvenience. But never mind. You understand--to say that before handsome women is annoying." "What folly! I recognize you there. But who is this M. Robert?" "I' faith! I don't know anything about him; he is a gentleman whom I met at the watering-places; he passed before us in the winter-garden at the embassy; I called him to play off this joke; he answered the second day after by giving me, very gallantly, a nice little thrust with his sword. But don't let us talk of this nonsense. I come to beg a cup of tea." Saying this, Lucenay threw himself at full length on the sofa; after which, introducing the end of his cane between the wall and the frame of a picture placed over his head, he commenced moving it backward and forward. "I expected you, my dear Henry, and I have arranged a little surprise for you." "Oh, what is it?" cried Lucenay, pushing the picture into a very ticklish position. "You'll end by pulling that picture on your head." "That's true, by Jove! you have the eye of an eagle. But your surprise, what is it?" "I have sent for some friends to breakfast with us." "Ah, good! marquis, bravo! bravissimo! archibravissimo!" screamed Lucenay, striking heavy blows on the sofa cushions. "And whom shall we have?" "Saint Remy." "No; he has been in the country for some days." "What the devil can he manage to do in the country in winter! Are you sure he is not in Paris?" "Very sure; I wrote him to be my second; he was absent; I fell back on Lord Douglas and Sezannes." "That is fortunate; they breakfast with us." "Bravo! bravo!" cried Lucenay, anew. Then he turned and twisted himself on the sofa, accompanying his loud cries with a series of somersaults that would have astonished a rope-dancer. The acrobatic evolutions were interrupted by the arrival of Saint Remy. "I have no need to ask if Lucenay is here," said the viscount, gayly. "He can be heard below." "How! is it you? beautiful sylvan! countryman! wolf's cub!" cried the duke, much surprised; "I thought you were in the country." "I came back, yesterday; I received the invitation just now, and here I am, quite delighted at this surprise," and Saint Remy gave his hand to Lucenay, and then to the marquis. "I take this very kind in you, my dear Saint Remy. Is it not natural that the friends of Lucenay should rejoice at the happy issue of this duel, which, after all, might have had a very grievous result?" "But," resumed the duke obstinately, "what have you been doing in the country in midwinter, Saint Remy? that beats me."