"You may sell my furniture, personal property"-- "What, everything, monsieur le marquis?" "Yes, everything; and after paying all my debts, if there is anything left, take out a commission for yourself and give me the balance;" and then he turned to the window and looked out on the lights of the city of Paris, indicating that the interview was at an end. Rignot withdrew. "Assuredly," said the Marquis de St. Hilaire with a yawn, "this revolution arrives in good time. I should soon have become a beggar." CHAPTER III THE BAKER AND HIS FAMILY The Count d'Arlincourt had just left the palace at Versailles. He had been present at the reception to the Royal Flanders regiment. He had heard their vow of fidelity to the king. He had been among the officers and the nobles of the court who had trampled under foot the tricolor of Paris and decorated their coats with the white cockade, and now he left the royal presence with his sovereign's thanks and commendations ringing in his ears. As he proceeded through the courtyard three gentlemen entered at the main gate. A shade of annoyance passed over the count's brow as he recognized St. Hilaire and two other noblemen, all members of the States General, and all reputed to lean somewhat too radically toward the popular side in politics. He had hardly seen St. Hilaire since the breakfast party at the house of the latter three months before. The toast of the marquis and his expressed sympathy with revolutionary orders had caused a decided estrangement. Indeed, St. Hilaire and the two noblemen who were with him had become alienated from their order, and many of their former friends among the nobility had refused to speak or hold any relations with them whatever. The count could not avoid meeting them, but he was undecided whether to ignore them entirely or pass them with such a slight inclination of the head as to be equally cutting. The cordial bow of the Marquis de St. Hilaire, however, for whom he had always felt a peculiar and inexplicable regard, caused him to change his mind. He saluted the three gentlemen politely, though with a certain reserve of manner natural to him, and addressed St. Hilaire. "A word with you, marquis," he said, "if I may be pardoned for taking you from these gentlemen for a few minutes?" St. Hilaire turned to his companions: "With your permission, messieurs, I will join you in five minutes in the palace." The gentlemen bowed in assent and walked toward the palace, leaving the count and the marquis alone in the centre of the court. "You were not present at the reception in the palace. We missed you greatly, marquis," the former began, with an attempt at cordiality of manner, having resolved to make one last appeal to his friend.