Neither the duke nor Martial made any response.

Even their remarkable assurance was very sensibly diminished; and M. de
Sairmeuse deemed it advisable to change the subject.

This he did, by relating the events which he had just witnessed in
Paris, and by insisting that His Majesty, Louis XVIII., had been
welcomed with enthusiasm and transports of affection.

Fortunately, the old housekeeper interrupted this recital.

She entered, loaded with china, silver, and bottles, and behind her came
a large man in a white apron, bearing three or four covered dishes in
his hands.

It was the order to go and obtain this repast from the village inn which
had drawn from Bibiaine so many exclamations of wonder and dismay in the
passage.

A moment later the cure and his guests took their places at the table.

Had the much-lamented chicken constituted the dinner the rations would
have been "short." This the worthy woman was obliged to confess, on
seeing the terrible appetite evinced by M. de Sairmeuse and his son.

"One would have sworn that they had eaten nothing for a fortnight," she
told her friends, the next day.

Abbe Midon was not hungry, though it was two o'clock, and he had eaten
nothing since the previous evening.