"The devil! as if I could remember that! Well, Monsieur Jules Robineau de la Roche-Noire, do you not feel disposed to adjourn to the table?"
"I shall have no appetite, my dear fellow, until I reach my château."
"This château of yours will end by making you ill, my poor boy."
The three young men having entered the common room, their loud conversation caused the stranger to raise his eyes, and he examined them without changing his position.
"Messieurs, messieurs, don’t sit down here, for heaven’s sake!" said Robineau, who had just discovered the stranger; "we can’t stay in this room—people like us! Don’t you see? Pretty company, isn’t it?"
"Faith!" said Alfred, taking a seat, "when I travel, I am philosophical; and so long as the dinner is good——"
But Robineau shouted, called, made an uproar, and the host appeared, cap in hand.
"Give us a private room," said Robineau; "it seems to me, monsieur l’aubergiste, that you should be more careful and not put us with—with everybody."
"Your table is being laid on the first floor, messieurs; and if you will walk upstairs——"
"Yes, to be sure."