"Monsieur has, I believe, something to read to us; I trust that it will not be so long as his last ballad."
"I flatter myself, madame, that you will find, on the contrary, that it is too short," replied Férulus, who was not overjoyed at this reference to his last ballad. Then, taking the roll from his pocket, and untying the ribbon, he rose and began:
"Compliment in verse in honor of the union of the newly-married pair."
"It seems to me, monsieur," said the marquis, "that you would have done well to say: the union of Mademoiselle Cornélie, daughter of the Marquis de la Pincerie, with Monsieur de la Roche-Noire; that would have been more becoming than to say ‘the newly-married pair,’ exactly as if you were talking about Jacquot and Pierrette!"
"My noble father-in-law is right," said Robineau, "I don’t like ‘the newly-married pair.’"
"Monsieur," replied Férulus, dissembling his mortification, "that phrase is strictly grammatical; you will find it in Lhomond, in Wailly, in Boiste, and in all the dictionaries."
"Oh! for heaven’s sake, monsieur, don’t talk about dictionaries!" cried Eudoxie; "it seems to me that to-day you should talk to us of something pleasant and attractive."
"Therefore, madame," continued Férulus, "I have taken for the text of my trifle, this line from Propertius:
"‘Nec domina ulla meo ponet vestigia lecto.’"
"And what may that mean?" said Cornélie; "for it seems to me that you would do better to give us a translation of it."