Bois-Doré fell asleep thinking of the absence of suitors about the fair Lauriane, of the enmity that the neighbors bore the rough and outspoken De Beuvre, and of the annoyance which De Beuvre felt on account of that state of things, temporary doubtless, but of which he exaggerated the possible duration.
The marquis persuaded himself that his proposal would be hailed as one of fortune's greatest boons.
The religious question would adjust itself as between them. In any event, if Lauriane should reproach him for having abjured Calvinism, he saw no objection to embracing it a second time.
His self-conceit did not permit him to consider the possibility of an objection based upon his age. Adamas had the gift of dispelling that unpleasant memory every night by his flatteries.
Honest Sylvain therefore fell asleep on that evening more absurd than ever; but whoever could have read in his heart the purely paternal feeling that guided his course, the boundless philosophical tolerance with which he looked forward to the possibility of being made a cuckold, and the projects of indulgence, of submission and absolute devotion which he formed with regard to his youthful helpmeet, would certainly have forgiven him, even while laughing at him.
When Adamas went into his own room, it seemed to him that he heard the rustling of a dress in the secret stairway. He rushed into the passage as quickly as possible, but failed to catch Bellinde, who had time to disappear, after overhearing, as she had often done before, all the conversation between the two old fellows.
Adamas knew her to be quite capable of playing the spy. But he concluded that he was mistaken, and barricaded all the doors when there was nothing to be heard save the loud snoring of the marquis and the muffled yelping of little Fleurial, who lay at the foot of the bed dreaming of a certain black cat, which was to him what Bellinde was to Adamas.
[XIX]
They arrived at La Motte-Seuilly about nine o'clock the next morning. The reader has not forgotten that in those days dinner was served at ten in the morning, supper at six in the evening.
On this occasion our marquis, who was fully determined to open his matrimonial projects, had deemed it best to use some lighter and less cumbersome means of locomotion than his magnificent lumbering chariot.