In a few minutes after Lionel's return, which he had considerably postponed, until Monsieur Gironac's dinner hour had all but arrived, my good host first, and then kind, merry little madame, made their appearance, and a little while was consumed in introductions, exclamations, admirations, and congratulations, all tinctured not a little by that national vivacity, which other folks are in the habit of calling extravagance, and which, as my readers well know already, the good Gironacs had by no means got rid of, even in the course of a long _sejour_ in the matter-of-fact metropolis of England. Fortunately, my friends were for the most part, _au fait_ to the leading circumstances of my life, so that little explanation was needed. And more fortunately yet, like tide and time, dinner waits for no man; nor have I ever observed, in all my adventurous life, that the sympathy of the most sentimental, the grief of the most woe-begone, or the joy of the happiest, ever induces them to neglect the summons of the dinner-bell, and the calls of the responsive appetite. In the midst of the delight of madame, at having at last to receive the brother of _cette chere Valerie_, and that brother, too, _si bel homme et brave officier, et d'une ressemblance si parfaite a la charmante soeur_, dinner was luckily announced; and the torrent-tide of madame's hospitality was cut short, by her husband's declaration that we were all, like himself, dying of hunger; and that not a word more must be spoken, touching sympathies or sentiments, until we had partaken of something nutritious _de quoi soutenir l'epuisement des emotions si dechirantes_. Madame laughed, declared that he was _un barbare, un malheureux sans grandeur de l'ame_, and taking possession of Auguste, led him away into the dining-room: where, though she told me afterwards that she was _au comble de desespoir_ at having to sit us down to so everyday a meal, we found an excellent dinner, and spent a very pleasant hour, until coffee was served; when, with it, not a little to my surprise, nor very much to my delight, Monsieur de Chavannes made his appearance. There was a quizzical look on Monsieur Gironac's face, and a roguish twinkle in his eye, which led me to believe that what was really a matter of surprise to me, was none to my worthy host; for the Count de Chavannes had never visited the house before, in the evening; nor, from what I had understood, was he on terms of particular intimacy with the Gironacs.