"Aha! A divorcée?"
"Yes."
"Then the relations between you are quite legitimate."
At this, my lieutenant of dragoons rose from his chair and stood before me in quite a magisterial position. I also stood up.
"The lady desires you to be her ..."—here the word he wanted would not occur to him. He raised the three first fingers of his right hand above his head, like one who is taking an oath. I guessed his meaning.
"A witness to her marriage?"
"No, not that. She used another word."
"Oh, she meant I was to give her away?"
"Yes, that is it. How I do forget!"
"Then is the chosen of your heart an acquaintance of mine?"