"Hail to the fairest in the land!
(Hail to the fairest in the land!)
"Now I take you by the hand.
(Now I take you by the hand.)
I lead you here, I lead you there;
Bring back your sheep, O shepherdess fair.
Bring back your sheep and with care them keep,
Shepherdess fair, bring back your sheep.
Bring back, bring back, bring back with care,
Bring back your sheep, O shepherdess fair!"
After making several more rounds, with the chevalier's carriage in the middle, and all the time singing:
"Ramenez, ramenez, ramenez donc,
Belle bergère, vos moutons."
They at length broke up the chain, and all danced merrily into the house.
Uncle Raoul, at last set at liberty by the inexorable dancers, descended as he could from the carriage and hastened to join the party at the supper-table.
CHAPTER IX.
"THE GOOD GENTLEMAN."
Tout homme qui, à quarante ans, n'est pas misanthrope, n'a jamais aimé les hommes.—Champfort.
J'ai été prodigieusement fier jusqu'à quarente-cinq ans: mais le malheur m'a bien courbé et m'a rendu aussi humble que j'étais fier. Ah! c'est une grande école que le malheur! j'ai appris à me courber et à m'humilier sous la main de Dieu.—Chenedollé.