"Faith! madame," rejoined Dubourg, after their exchange of glances had lasted for some minutes, during which the husband contemplated the swallows, "it may be that my friends and I will remain some time at Grenoble. Monsieur le Comte de Montreville has a very pronounced liking for the banks of the Isère, and I am too fond of him to go away without him. We are like Orestes and Pylades, except that we are never seen together; and although we are expected at the court of Sardinia, and I have promised to pass the winter at the court of Bulgaria, it is possible, as I say, that our sojourn in this province may be prolonged for some time;--isn't that so, Monsieur Ménard?" "I think as you do, monsieur le baron," said Ménard; whereupon the lady whispered to her husband: "How affable he is for a baron!" And the husband replied: "He is affable just because he is a baron." "Especially," continued Ménard, who had assumed a more important air since he had learned that their new acquaintance was a former dealer in wines, "especially as Monsieur le Comte de Montreville, my pupil, is of an exceedingly romantic turn." "Ah! he is like me! he is just like me!" said the lady, with a sigh addressed to Dubourg; "I care for nothing but the romantic. I am mad over ghosts and elves--am I not, Monsieur Chambertin?" "Yes, my wife has always been very fond of spirits," Monsieur Chambertin replied, with a smile. "She had no lack of them with you," rejoined Dubourg. "True, I had them all the way from twenty-four degrees to seventy." "If madame should ever come to Poland," said Dubourg, "I trust that she will not fail to pass a few days at my castle of Krapach. She will see phantoms of all colors there; it's not so cheerful a place of residence as my castle at Cracow, but I would not part with it for two millions! And yet, it brings me nothing but snow; but I have my reasons for being attached to it--eh, Monsieur Ménard?" "Peste! I should say so! a castle where you have entertained----" "Hush, be still, Ménard; that doesn't interest Monsieur and Madame Chambertin." "I beg your pardon," said Chambertin, bowing once more; "we are too flattered to make the acquaintance of a Polish nobleman--for I think that monsieur le baron is a Pole?" "From my birth," replied Dubourg, turning his head away so that Ménard might have an opportunity to say to them in an undertone: "Monsieur le Baron Ladislas Potoski, Palatine of Rava and Sandomir." When he heard those titles, the former wine merchant was like one stupefied; he dared not take a step forward or back, while Madame Chambertin twisted her mouth in every conceivable way, and did her utmost to do away with it altogether, in order to seduce the Palatine of Rava. "Did you come here to see the ruins?" queried Dubourg, after giving his name and titles time to produce their due effect.