Madame de Talizac shrugged her shoulders impatiently. Madame de Fongereues made her a sign.
"Come," she said, "the Marquis is sinking into his second childhood, and his follies irritate me."
The child took his mother's hand.
"We shall be the masters now, mamma, shall we not?"
The Vicomtesse murmured, as she left the room,
"Why has not Jean come? Can it be that he has not succeeded!"
Hardly had they disappeared than a door, concealed behind a hanging, slowly opened.
Pierre Labarre appeared and noiselessly approaching his master, knelt at his feet.
"Master," he said, respectfully, "I have returned."