"You are not going to begin to pay me compliments at this late day, I hope," laughed Gerald. "Very well, then, it is decided that I am to see Mlle. de Beaumesnil, and leave the rest to fate. My course is marked out for me. I will not deviate from it, I promise you." "Bravo, my dear Gerald," replied Olivier, gaily. "I see you now in my mind's eye in love, married,--a happy Benedict, in short. Ah, well, there's no happiness like it, I'm sure. And alas! I, yesterday, knowing nothing of your plans, asked Madame Herbaut's permission to introduce to her a former comrade, a very worthy young man, whom she instantly accepted on the strength of my all-potent recommendation." "You don't say so," exclaimed Gerald, laughing. "Oh, well, you needn't consider me as good as dead and buried. I shall promptly avail myself of her kind permission to call, I assure you." "You will?" "Most assuredly I shall." "But your matrimonial projects?" "Why, they make me all the more determined on this point." "Explain, I beg of you." "Why, the explanation is very simple, it seems to me. The more reason I have to love a bachelor's life, the better I shall have to love Mlle. de Beaumesnil in order to renounce my pleasures, and consequently the more certain I shall be of the sentiment she inspires. So, once for all, let it be understood that you are to take me with you to Madame Herbaut's, and to make me still stronger--to resist temptation, of course, I'll become the lover of one of the rivals, or even of one of the satellites of that famous duchess who is such a bugbear to me, and with whom I strongly suspect you of being in love." "Nonsense, Gerald!" "Come, be frank with me. You surely can't suspect me of desire to cut you out. As if there were not plenty of duchesses in the world! Do you remember the sutler's pretty wife? You had only to say the word, and I, forthwith, left the coast clear for you." "What, another!" cried the commander. "What a fascinating rascal my nephew must be!" "Ah, commander, if you knew the number of hearts the scamp won in Algiers alone! Madame Herbaut's fair guests had better be on their guard if they don't want to fall victims to Olivier's fascinations!" "I haven't any designs on the charming guests, you big simpleton," retorted Olivier, gaily. "But seriously, do you really wish me to take you to Madame Herbaut's?" "Certainly I do," answered Gerald. Then turning to the veteran, he continued: "You really must not consider me a harebrained fellow on account of this determination on my part, commander. I have accepted your friendly advice in regard to marriage, you say, and yet I end the conversation by begging Olivier to take me to Madame Herbaut's. Ah, well, strange as this may appear to you, commander, I say, no longer jestingly, but in all seriousness this time, that the less change I make in my habits, the more sincere my love for Mlle. de Beaumesnil will have to be to induce me to abandon them."