"What would you have—I had nothing else to offer my country; it would have none of my person!—But allow me to congratulate you, Santoval! You are a lucky mortal, 'pon my honor! I have heard your wife's beauty extolled, but I see that what I have heard is far below the truth!"
"You are gallant, as always, De Noirteuil!"
"At this moment I am simply the echo of what is said on every side.—What think you of this fête, belle dame? a little crowded, is it not?"
"Why, monsieur, it seems to me to be very brilliant, very splendid!"
"Humph! too many people! That is the way with these foreigners; when they want to give a fête, they invite and invite! they would do much better to make a selection, to sort people out."
"What! do you mean to say that you have seen anybody who is out of place here?"
"I do not say that; still, after all, he might well have invited a smaller number."
"They say that the cardinal is coming."
"That is possible; but it is all the same to me—I don't care about seeing him, I have no request to make of him. He has just organized two companies of mousquetaires, but I fancy that he will not appoint me to a captaincy. Ha! ha!"
"Still fond of your laugh, my dear De Noirteuil!"