"No more."
"The devil! this becomes embarrassing. Think of Frédéric carrying the cash-box off with him, and leaving us in the lurch, without stopping to think what will become of us! I am aware that we may live on at the inn, where we have an open account; but it isn't pleasant to be tied down to an inn while my gentleman is travelling about the country."
"One thing is certain, monsieur le baron, and that is that walking gives one an appetite."
"Morbleu! I am beginning to find this travelling decidedly monotonous; and if I wasn't afraid of my creditors——"
"Your creditors, monsieur le baron?"
"I mean, if I hadn't the creditors of my government to settle with—that is to say, if—— But, hush! I see somebody—probably people who have come to inspect these ruins. They must live in the neighborhood, for they don't look as if they had taken a long walk."
Ménard looked up and saw a man and woman at their left, walking slowly toward the château. The tutor hastily thrust the bottle and napkin into his pocket, then he rose and joined Dubourg, who was walking toward the new arrivals with a graceful swagger which reminded Ménard of their promenades in the streets of Lyon.
"It seems that monsieur le baron proposes to lay aside his incognito again," he said to himself. Whereupon, he straightened the ends of his ruff and assumed a more dignified bearing.
Dubourg had replaced by a very simple round hat the shabby tile which had been left for him at the false Marquise de Versac's, but he had retained the little silver tassels on his boots; above all, he had retained the power to impart to his features an expression befitting the part he proposed to play. When he approached the couple examining the ruins, one would have judged from his manners, his voice, his language, and the way in which he looked about, that he was some foreign nobleman.
The gentleman and lady whom Dubourg seemed disposed to join were dressed in a style that indicated comfortable circumstances, but which smelt of the province and of a decided tendency to ostentation. The gentleman, who seemed to be about fifty years old, wore his hair powdered, and carried his hat in his hand in order not to disarrange his carefully curled locks; he had a black coat and trousers, and boots with tops which fell below the calf; he carried a cane, with which he pointed out the various objects of interest to his companion; and one could read on his face extreme self-satisfaction and contentment, heightened by an important air which, doubtless, he felt in duty bound to maintain.