"but keep it, though we must hunt up means for a handsome robe for your court presentation. Hush! here is Labrie."
"The note, my lord, which was given Gilbert by the strange gentleman."
The baron snatched it from the servant and read in an undertone:
"My Lord: Since an august hand touched this service of plate under your roof, it belongs to your lordship, and I pray you to keep it as a memento, and sometimes to remember, your grateful guest, Balsamo."
"Labrie, is there a good goldsmith at Bar-le-Duc?"
"Yes, my lord, the one who mended our young lady's jewelry."
"Put aside the cup the princess used, and pack up the rest of the plate in our carriage. And then, haste to the cellar and serve that officer with all the liquor left. Come, come, Andrea, courage! We are going to court, a splendid place where the sun never fails. You are naturally lovely and have only to set the gem becomingly to outshine them all."
Nicole followed Andrea to her room.
"I am off to arrange my titles of nobility and proofs of service," continued the baron, trotting to his room briskly. "We shall be off from this den in an hour; do you hear, Andrea? And we leave by the golden gates, too. What a trump that magician is! Really, I have become as superstitious as the devil's own. But make haste, Labrie!" he cried to his man groping about in the cellar.
"I can't get on faster, master—we have not a candle left."