Then the heroes of the day entered the church, and knelt in the places appointed for them.
I saw that from this moment Lucien appeared perfectly at ease. All had been finished satisfactorily: the reconciliation had taken place not only before man but before Heaven.
The service terminated without any incident worth recording; and when it was over, Orlandi and Colona passed out with the same ceremony as before.
At the church door, at the instance of the mayor, they once again shook hands; and then each one, attended by his friends and relatives, made his way to his house, which for three years he had not entered.
Lucien and myself went back to Madame de Franchi’s house, where dinner awaited us.
It is not difficult to perceive by the attentions I received that Lucien had read my name over my shoulder when I was signing the paper, and the name was not altogether unknown to him.
In the morning I had announced to Lucien my intention to depart after dinner. I was urgently recalled to Paris by the rehearsals of “Un Mariage sous Louis XV.,” and notwithstanding the importunities of mother and son, I persisted in adhering to my first determination.
Lucien then asked permission to take advantage of my offer, and to take a letter to his brother; and Madame Franchi made me promise that I would hand this letter myself to her son.
There was really no trouble in the matter, for Louis de Franchi, like a true Parisian as he was, lived at No. 7, Rue du Helder.
I asked permission to see Lucien’s room once again, and he himself conducted me thither, explaining everything to me.