"Ah, mon Dieu! see, the play seems to be finished."
"Five acts, how short it has been!" said Gabriel. "But you are right, Diane; and the epilogue is just pointing the moral of the piece."
"Luckily," said Diane, "we have said almost all that we had to say to each other."
"I haven't said one thousandth part of it," said Gabriel.
"No, nor I really," said Diane; "and the queen's advances to you."
"Oh, you wretch!" said Gabriel.
"Oh, no, the wretch is she who smiles at you, and not I who grumble at you, do you hear? Don't speak to her again this evening, will you, dear, just to please me?"
"Just to please you! How good you are! No, I will not speak to her again. But, see, the epilogue is also finished, alas! Adieu! but only for a little while, is it, Diane? Say one last word to me to sustain and comfort me, dear Diane."
"To meet soon again, and forever, Gabriel, my little husband," whispered the beaming maiden in the ear of the delighted Gabriel.
And she disappeared in the pushing, noisy crowd. Gabriel slunk away so as to fulfil his promise of avoiding a meeting with the queen. Such touching fidelity to his oath! And he left the Louvre, convinced that Antoine de Baïf was a very great man, and that he had never been present at a performance which had given him so much pleasure.