"What do you think of all these peasants?" he inquired of his father.
"Do they have the appearance of people who are preparing a triumphal
reception for their old masters?"

M. de Sairmeuse shrugged his shoulders. He was not the man to renounce
an illusion for such a trifle.

"They do not know that I am in this post-chaise," he replied. "When they
know----"

Shouts of "Vive Monsieur le Duc de Sairmeuse!" interrupted him.

"Do you hear that, Marquis?" he exclaimed.

And pleased by these cries that proved him in the right, he leaned from
the carriage-window, waving his hand to the honest Chupin family, who
were running after the vehicle with noisy shouts.

The old rascal, his wife, and his children, all possessed powerful
voices; and it was not strange that the duke believed the whole village
was welcoming him. He was convinced of it; and when the berlin stopped
before the house of the cure, M. de Sairmeuse was persuaded that the
_prestige_ of the nobility was greater than ever.

Upon the threshold of the parsonage, Bibiaine, the old housekeeper, was
standing. She knew who these guests must be, for the cure's servants
always know what is going on.

"Monsieur has not yet returned from church," she said, in response to