'Fill your glasses, gentlemen,' exclaimed De Brissac, standing on one of the rich tapestry chairs; 'fill them to the brim. I mean to parody old Martial for the occasion, thus:—
'Let six full cups to Nævia's health go round,
And fair de l'Orme's with seven full cups be crowned.'
'Vivat, messieurs! off with them!' and the mad cavaliers drained seven in succession; but after this it pleased M. de Brissac to become very cross, jealous, and suspicious; and, assuming his plumed hat and long sword, he proposed to leave.
'Well, if you are determined to be unpleasant, assuredly I shall not detain you,' said Marion, with a tone of pique; 'but,' she added in a kinder whisper, 'when am I to have that diamond necklace from the queen's jeweller?'
'I know not,' he answered, gloomily; 'and I care not.'
'Indeed!'
'Yes,' he replied, twisting his right moustache.
'It is only six hundred paltry crowns.'
'Crowns of the sun—mordieu! my wife's cost but two hundred.'
'What is Madame to me?'