[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
entire meal of them. D.W.]





GERFAUT

By CHARLES DE BERNARD


BOOK 4.


CHAPTER XX

MARILLAC TELLS A STORY

Guests were seated that evening around the oval table in the dining-room
of the castle of Bergenheim. According to custom, the ladies were not
present at this repast. This was a custom which had been adopted by the
Baroness for the suppers which were given by her husband at the close of
his hunting parties; she dispensed with appearing at table on those days;
perhaps she was too fastidious to preside at these lengthy seances of
which the ruses of the hare, the death of the stag, and the feats of the
hounds, formed the principal topics of conversation. It is probable that
this conduct was duly appreciated by those who participated in those
rather boisterous repasts, and that they felt a certain gratitude, in