"Yes, my son, to be sure."
"And he is satisfied? Things are already so far under way, the lady prepossessed in his favor, accepting in advance, and asking only to see him—"
"Yes, my friend, he has promised to allow himself to be introduced."
"Victory!" cried the Duke. "Then let us be gay, let us do something foolish! I want to jump up to the ceiling, I want to embrace some one, it makes no matter whom! Dear mamma, will you let me go and embrace my brother?"
"Yes, but do not congratulate him too much; he is startled at anything new, you understand?"
"O, never fear; I know him."
And the Duke, still very nimble in spite of his tendency to stoutness and the more or less damaged state of his joints, went out gambolling like a school-boy.
[X]
He found the Marquis absorbed in his work. "Do I disturb you? So much the worse!" cried the Duke. "I must embrace you. My mother has just read me the letter from the Duchess de Dunières."
"But, my friend, the marriage is not yet arranged," replied the Marquis, while he submitted to the fraternal hugging.