"Bravo! Edwards, you are a man of sense decidedly; you have suggested a most excellent idea. We must ask the vicomte; he is such a good master that he will not refuse to speak for us to the young duke. He may say that, as he is going on the legation of Gerolstein, to which he is attached, he wishes to get rid of his whole establishment. Let us see. One hundred and sixty thousand francs for the house furnished, twenty thousand francs for plate and pictures, fifty thousand francs for stable and carriages, that makes two hundred and thirty thousand francs; and it is a bargain for a young man who wishes to be set up at once in the first style." "And the horses!" "And the capital table! Gallefroi, his cook, will leave a hundred times better off than when he came here first. M. le Vicomte has given him capital instruction,--has regularly refined him!" "They say, too, that M. le Vicomte is such a capital player?" "Admirable! Gaining large sums with even more indifference than he loses them! And yet I never saw any one lose with better taste!" "And the women, Boyer,--the women! Ah, you could tell a tale! You have the sole _entree_ to the apartments of the ground floor--" "I have my secrets as you have yours, my dear fellow." "Mine?" "When M. le Vicomte ran his horses, had you not your confidences? I will not attack the honesty of the jockeys of your opponents; but there were reports--" "Hush, my dear Boyer, a gentleman never compromises the reputation of a jockey who is against him, and has the weakness to listen--" "Then a gallant never compromises the reputation of a woman who has been kind to him. So, I say, let's keep our secrets, or, rather, the secrets of M. le Vicomte, my dear Edwards." "Ah, good! What will he do now?" "He is going to Germany in a good travelling carriage, with seven or eight thousand francs, which he knows when to lay his hand upon. Oh, I have no fears for the vicomte! He is one of those personages who always fall on their feet, as they say." "And he has no future expectancies?" "None; for his father has nothing but just enough to live upon." "His father?" "Certainly." "M. le Vicomte's father is not dead?" "He was not dead five or six months ago when M. le Vicomte wrote to him for some family papers." "But we never see him here?" "For reasons good. For fifteen years he has resided in the country at Angers." "But M. le Vicomte never visits him?" "His father?" "Yes." "Never--never!" "Have they quarrelled, then?" "What I am going to tell you is no secret, for I have it from the old man of business of M. the Prince de Noirmont." "Father of Madame de Lucenay?" said Edwards, with a knowing glance at Boyer, who, appearing not to understand him, replied coolly: