“Done.”
“There’s the Grand Duke! Let us go and make our bow; we need not stick at the table as if our whole soul were staked with our crown-pieces,” So saying, the gentlemen walked up to the top of the room.
“Why, Grey! Surely no, it cannot be, and yet it is. De Boeffleurs, how d’ye do?” said the Baron, with a face beaming with joy and a hearty shake of the hand. “My dear fellow, how did you manage to get off so soon? I thought you were not to be here for a fortnight: we only arrived ourselves to-day.”
“Yes; but I have made an arrangement which I did not anticipate; and so I posted after you at once. Whom do you think I have brought with me?”
“Who?”
“Salvinski.”
“Ah! And the Count?”
“Follows immediately. I expect him to-morrow or next day. Salvinski is talking to the Grand Duke; and see, he beckons to me. I suppose I am going to be presented.”
The Chevalier moved forward, followed by the Baron and Vivian.
“Any friend of Prince Salvinski I shall always have great pleasure in having presented to me. Chevalier, I feel great pleasure in having you presented to me. Chevalier, you ought to be proud of the name of Frenchman. Chevalier, the French are a great nation. Chevalier, I have the highest respect for the French nation.”