Daylight slowly waned; lights were brought in, and, the meal over, old Pierre pushed back in his chair. My lady rose quickly; looked a little constrainedly at the company, at the Marquis, then toward the door. Anticipating her desire, attributing to it, perhaps, a significance flattering to his vanity, the young nobleman expressed a wish for a stroll; a sight of the garden. At once she assented; a slight tint now on her cheeks, she moved to the door, and my lord followed; as they disappeared, the Black Seigneur laughed--at one of Pierre's jokes! "Have I not told it before?" said the host. "Have you?" murmured the Black Seigneur. "Well, a good jest, like an excellent dish, may well be served twice." "Humph!" observed the landlord doubtfully. After a pause: "I suppose he will be taking her away soon?" "Her?" The young man rose. "The Lady Elise!" "I suppose so," shortly. "We shall miss her!" grumbled the landlord as he, too, got up and walked over to the fireplace. "I, who never thought to care for any of the fine folk--I, bluff old Pierre Laroche!--say we shall miss her." "Knows she how it fared with his Excellency's--her father's--estate? That little, or nothing, is left?" "Aye." "And she will agree to the promise I wrote you about?" quickly. "That you--now that the right to your name has been vindicated--are content to accept half the lands in dispute; her ladyship to retain the other half?" "Yes; in consideration of that which his Excellency expended in taxes--no small sum!--and what it would cost to carry on vexatious litigation!" "You are strangely faint-hearted to pursue your advantage," said old Pierre shrewdly. "But," as the other made a gesture, "I put it to her ladyship as you desired me to, and--" "She consented?" eagerly. Pierre shook his head. "No, _mon capitaine_! She will have none of them. And you had heard her: 'A great wrong was unintentionally,' she accented the word, 'done the Seigneur Desaurac by my father, which has now been set right!' 'It has,' I assented, and would have urged further your proposal, when she stopped me. 'Speak no more of this matter!' 'Twas all she said; but--you should have seen her face, and how her eyes shone!" The young man, looking down, made no answer. "An you are not satisfied," continued Pierre, "broach the question to my lady, yourself." "I?" A look, half bitter, crossed the other's dark face. "Her father's enemy! Through whose servant, all her misfortunes came about! To revive anew what must so often pass in her mind?"