The supper on this second day of rejoicing gathered other friends at Briantes; on the following day occurred the fête given to the vassals, a Pantagruelian banquet and dancing under the old walnut trees in the enclosure.
A competition in arquebus shooting was organized by Guillaume d'Ars.
Mario suggested to the village urchins trials of skill in running and sling-throwing, and obtained permission to resume, for the purposes of that contest, his mountaineer's costume, in which he felt much more at ease.
He displayed an agility and skill which filled his competitors with admiration. No one could dream for an instant of disputing the prize with him; so he modestly withdrew from the competition, in order that the prize might be awarded equitably to some other.
The festivities were brought to a close by a ceremony at once artless and ostentatious, and at bottom really touching.
In the centre of the labyrinth in the garden rose a little thatch-covered structure in imitation of a cottage.
The marquis called it the Palace of Astrée.
They carried thither the coarse patched clothes which Mario wore when he first entered the domain of his ancestors. They fashioned them into a sort of rustic trophy, with the poor guitar which had been his breadwinner on his journey, and hung the whole inside the cottage, with garlands of foliage and a card, whereon were written, under date of that memorable day, these simple words, selected and executed in his finest script by Lucilio: "Remember that thou wast poor once on a time."
At the same time Mario was presented with a great basket containing twelve new suits, which he had the pleasure of distributing to twelve poor little boys grouped on the tiny stoop of the cottage.
Lastly, the marquis ordered placed in the chapel of the parish church a small mausoleum in marble, dedicated to the memory of the kindly and saintly Abbé Anjorrant. Lucilio made the drawing and composed the inscription.