was used to the buffets of a censorious world; young Florian never heard
of this furtive chatter; and certainly what people said in Poictesme did
not at all perturb the vicomte's mother, that elderly and pious lady,
Madame Felise de Puysange, at her remote home in Normandy. The
principals taking the affair thus quietly, we may with profit emulate
them. So I let lapse this delicate matter of young Florian's paternity,
and begin with his wedding._




CHAPTER I

_The Episode Called The Wedding Jest_


1. _Concerning Several Compacts_

It is a tale which they narrate in Poictesme, telling how love began
between Florian de Puysange and Adelaide de la Foret. They tell also how
young Florian had earlier fancied other women for one reason or another;
but that this, he knew, was the great love of his life, and a love which
would endure unchanged as long as his life lasted.

And the tale tells how the Comte de la Foret stroked a gray beard, and
said, "Well, after all, Puysange is a good fief--"

"As if that mattered!" cried his daughter, indignantly. "My father, you
are a deplorably sordid person."