Marguerite entered at this moment to announce dinner. Bridou took off his blouse, passed his hand through his yellow hair, and with a coquettish air offered his arm to Madame Bastien, who trembled in every limb.
Jacques Bastien threw his holly stick in a corner, kept on his blouse, and followed his wife and the bailiff to the dining-room.
CHAPTER XXXV.
WHEN Madame Bastien, her husband, and the bailiff entered the dining-room, they found there David and Frederick.
The latter exchanged a glance with his preceptor, approached Jacques Bastien, and said to him, in a respectful tone:
"Good morning, father, I thought you wished to be alone with my mother, and that is why I withdrew upon your arrival."
"It seems that your hysterics are gone," said Bastien to his son, in a tone of sarcasm, "and you no longer need to travel for pleasure. That is a pity, for I wanted to humour you with pleasure."
"I do not know what you mean, father."
Instead of replying to his son, Bastien, still standing, occupied himself in counting the plates on the table; he saw five and said to his wife, curtly:
"Why are there five plates?"