To which speech Mr. Zacharias made reply:
“Dame Christine, you possess a treasure! Mademoiselle Charlotte merits all the good I have said of her.”
Then Master Yeri, raising his glass, cried out: “Let us drink to the health of our good and venerated Judge Zacharias Seiler!”
The toast was drunk with a will.
Just then the clock, in its hoarse voice, struck the hour of eleven. Out of doors there was the great silence of the forest, the grasshopper’s last cry, the vague murmur of the river. As the hour sounded, they rose, preparatory to retiring. How fresh and agile he felt! With what ardor, had he dared, would he not have pressed a kiss upon Charlotte’s little hand! Oh, but he must not think of that now! Later on, perhaps!
“Come, Master Yeri,” he said, “it is bedtime. Good-night, and many thanks for your hospitality.”
“At what hour do you wish to rise, Monsieur?” asked Christine.
“Oh!” he replied gazing at Charlotte, “I am an early bird. I do not feel my age, though perhaps you might not think so. I rise at five o’clock.”
“Like me, Monsieur Seiler,” cried the Head Forester. I rise before daybreak; but I must confess it is tiresome all the same—we are no longer young. Ha! Ha!”
“Bah! I have never had anything ail me, Master Forester; I have never been more vigorous or more nimble.”