The count retreated a few steps.
"Madame la Duchesse de Berry!" he exclaimed, stupefied.
"In person, monsieur," said the duchess.
"Are you not proud and happy to receive her Royal Highness?" said de Lussac.
"As proud and happy as an ardent royalist can be; but--"
"What! is there a but?" asked the duchess.
"This is my wife's birthday, and we have twenty-five guests now dining with us."
"Well, monsieur, there is a French proverb which says, 'Enough for two is enough for three.' I am sure you will extend the maxim to mean 'Enough for twenty-five is enough for twenty-eight;' for I warn you that Monsieur de Lussac, servant as he is, must dine at table, and he is dying of hunger."
"Yes; but don't be uneasy," said the Baron de Lussac. "I'll take off my livery."
Monsieur de Vouillé seized his head with both hands, as if he meant to tear out his hair.