“Mille excuses, Monsieur Bevre’——­; more beautiful as de rose, and no opinatre du tout.  Mon Dieu! pour sa qualite, c’est une famille tres ancienne.”

“That was a weak point with my brother Barberie, and, after all, it did not add a cipher to the sum-total of the assets.  The best blood, Mr. Francois, is that which has been best fed.  The line of Hugh Capet himself would fail, without the butcher; and the butcher would certainly fail, without customers that can pay.  Francois, thou art a man who understands the value of a sure footing in the world; would it not be a thousand pities, that such a girl as Alida should throw herself away on one whose best foundation is no better than a rolling ship?”

“Certainement, Monsieur; Mam’selle be too good to roll in de ship.”

“Obliged to follow a husband, up and down; among freebooters and dishonest traders; in fair weather and foul; hot and cold; wet and dry; bilge-water and salt-water; cramps and nausea; salt-junk and no junk; gales and calms,—­and all for a hasty judgment formed in sanguine youth.”

The face of the valet had responded to the Alderman’s enumeration of the evils that would attend so ill-judged a step in his niece, as faithfully as if each muscle had been a mirror, to reflect the contortions of one suffering under the malady of the sea.

“Parbleu, c’est horrible cette mer!” he ejaculated; when the other had done.  “It is grand malheur, dere should be watair but for drink, and for la proprete, avec fosse to keep de carp round le chateau.  Mais, Mam’selle be no haste jugement, and she shall have mari on la terre solide.”

“’Twould be better, that the estate of my brother-in-law should be kept in sight, judicious Francois, than to be sent adrift on the high seas.”

“Dere vas marin dans la famille de Barberie nevair.”

“Bonds and balances! if the savings of one I could name, frugal Francois, were added in current coin the sum-total would sink a common ship.  You know it is my intention to remember Alida, in settling accounts with the world.”

“If Monsieur de Barberie vas ’live, Monsieur Alderman, he should say des choses convenables; mais, malheureusement, mon cher, maitre est mort; and, sair, I shall be bold to remercier pour lui, et pour toute sa famille.”

“Women are perverse, and sometimes they have pleasure in doing the very thing they are desired not to do.”

“Ma foi, oui!”

“Prudent men should manage them with soft words and rich gifts; with these, they become orderly as a pair of well-broke geldings.”

“Monsieur know,” said the old valet, rubbing his hands, and laughing with the subdued voice of a well-bred domestic, though he could not conceal a jocular wink; “pourtant il est garcon!  Le cadeau be good for de demoiselles, and bettair as for de dames.”

“Wedlock and blinkers! it is we gassons, as you call us, who ought to know.  Your hen-pecked husband has no time to generalize among the sex, in order to understand the real quality of the article.  Now, here is Van Staats of Kinderhook, faithful Francois; what think you of such a youth for a husband for Alida?”