He came as an ambassador, he declared, after an interminable litany of
protestations--he came to implore monseigneur to show himself upon the
public square.

"Ah, well--yes," exclaimed the duke, rising; "yes, I will yield to the
wishes of these good people. Follow me, Marquis!"

As he appeared at the door of the presbytery, a loud shout rent the air;
the rifles were discharged, the guns belched forth their smoke and fire.
Never had Sairmeuse heard such a salvo of artillery. Three windows in
the Boeuf Couronne were shattered.

A veritable _grand seigneur_, the Duc de Sairmeuse knew how to preserve
an appearance of haughtiness and indifference. Any display of emotion
was, in his opinion, vulgar; but, in reality, he was delighted, charmed.

So delighted that he desired to reward his welcomers.

A glance over the deeds handed him by Lacheneur had shown him that
Sairmeuse had been restored to him intact.

The portions of the immense domain which had been detached and sold
separately were of relatively minor importance.

The duke thought it would be politic, and, at the same time,
inexpensive, to abandon all claim to these few acres, which were now
shared by forty or fifty peasants.

"My friends," he exclaimed, in a loud voice, "I renounce, for myself and