"That is all?" rejoined the scandalized steward; "pardon me, your lordship, that is not all. Heraldry is history written in hieroglyphics _ad hoc_. Alas! the time will soon come, perhaps, when we shall know how to read this mysterious writing better than the sacramental characters which cover the tombs and monuments of Egypt! And yet what profound and ingeniously expressed meaning there is in that figurative language! To place upon a seal, upon the bezel of a ring the whole history of one's own race--is not that the result of a marvellous art? And what more concise and more impressive signs have civilized people ever used?" "What he says is not without a basis of reason and common sense," said the marquis, in an undertone, addressing Michel. "But you listen to him with a disdainful expression which impresses me, young man. Come! say all that you think; I would like to hear it, in order to ascertain whether you have good reason for laughing at the nobility with a touch of bitterness, as you seem inclined to do. Do not be embarrassed; I will listen to you as calmly and disinterestedly as yonder dead men, who look down upon us with lifeless eyes, from their frames blackened by the lapse of time." [Footnote 10: A black silk cloak, which covers the whole body and the head.]