“Mon Dieu! don’t be alarmed! You surprise me! It is due to me that this baby of sixteen years and a half consented to leave his nurse, and, instead of thanking me, you preach at me. Be of service to people--exert your imagination--so that they may lecture you afterwards!” “I say, Daréna,” said Monfréville, scrutinizing Monsieur Poterne, who was sidling by the ladies, casting furtive glances at them, to which they replied by wry faces, “is that horribly dirty person a friend of yours? Do you expect us to dine with him? I must confess that I am not charmed by the prospect of his company. Who is the fellow? He looks very like a hawk.” “He is my steward.” “Ah! so you still have a steward? I thought that you had ceased to keep up an establishment.” “I have kept nobody else. This man looks after my affairs--he’s an invaluable fellow for expedients.” “In that case, he would do well to devise an expedient for obtaining another coat.” “Well! aren’t we ever going to dine?” asked Malvina, trying a _pas de seul_ in a corner of the salon. “Yes, indeed, madame. Come, Monsieur Chérubin, be kind enough to take your seat.” Monsieur d’Hurbain was about to sit beside Chérubin, but Monfréville stopped him, saying in an undertone: “Let these girls sit by our pupil, or else we may lose all the fruit of our trouble. I have been watching Chérubin among all these people; he sighs sometimes, and if he should have an attack of homesickness, he might absolutely insist on returning to his nurse, and we should have much difficulty in keeping him in Paris.” Monsieur d’Hurbain submitted; he allowed Mesdemoiselles Rosina and Cœlina to seat themselves on each side of Chérubin; Malvina, who was too late to obtain a seat next the young man, attempted to force Rosina to give up her chair to her and threatened to strike her; but a stern glance from Daréna put an end to the dispute, and Mademoiselle Malvina seated herself at the other end of the table, humming: “You shall not take him away, Nicolas! ‘Tis I whom he will love, tradera!” There was one vacant place, for Monsieur Poterne had ordered the table laid for nine, and, despite Daréna’s signs, the gentleman in the box-coat seemed to be on the point of taking the vacant chair, when the door opened and Monsieur Gérondif appeared, accompanied by Jasmin. The professor bowed to the company, saying: “I humbly salute the gentlemen, and I lay my homage at the feet of the ladies simultaneously.” “What is the man doing to our feet?” Malvina asked Daréna, who was seated beside her, and whose only reply was a violent blow with his knee. But Chérubin’s face lighted up when he saw the new arrivals, and he cried: “Ah! here you are, my dear tutor! How glad I am that you came to Paris too! What a pity that--that you----”