gentlemen!" We left the house, passed into the street, and moved on
rapidly, and in silence, till the constitutional gayety of the Duke
recovering its ordinary tone, he said with a laugh,--

"Well, now, it is a little hard that a man who has been toiling all day
for the public good should feel ashamed of indulging for an hour or two
at night in his private amusements; but so it is. 'Once grave, always
grave!' is the maxim of the world; eh, Chatran?"

The companion bowed. "'Tis a very good saying, please your Royal
Highness, and is intended to warn us from the sin of /ever/ being
grave!"

"Ha! ha! you have a great turn for morality, my good Chatran!" cried the
Duke, "and would draw a rule for conduct out of the wickedest /bon mot/
of Dubois. Monsieur, pardon me, but I have seen you before: you are the
Count--"

"Devereux, Monseigneur."

"True, true! I have heard much of you: you are intimate with Milord
Bolingbroke. Would that I had fifty friends like /him/."

"Monseigneur would have little trouble in his regency if his wish were
realized," said Chatran.

"/Tant mieux/, so long as I had little odium, as well as little
trouble,--a happiness which, thanks to you and Dubois, I am not likely
to enjoy,--but there is the carriage!"