“With you?”

“No; luckily I had time to slip off, or I should have been drowned with him.”

“Ah! then the poor beast was drowned?”

“Pardioux! you know the Dordogne—­half a league across.”

“And then?”

“Then I resolved not to return home, but to go away as far as possible from my father’s anger.”

“But your hat?”

“Diable! my hat had fallen.”

“Like you.”

“I did not fall; I slipped off.”

“But your hat?”

“Ah! my hat had fallen.  I sought for it, being my only resource, as I had come out without money.”

“But how could your hat be a resource?”

“Saudioux! it was a great one, for I must tell you that the plume of this hat was fastened by a diamond clasp, that his majesty the emperor Charles V. gave to my grandfather, when, on his way from Spain to Flanders, he stopped at our castle.”

“Ah! ah! and you have sold the clasp, and the hat with it.  Then, my dear friend, you ought to be the richest of us all, and you should have bought another glove; your hands are not alike; one is as white as a woman’s, and the other as black as a negro’s.”

“But listen; as I turned to seek my hat I saw an enormous crow seize hold of it.”

“Of your hat!”

“Or rather of the clasp; attracted by the glitter, and in spite of my cries, he flew away with it, and I saw it no more.  So that, overwhelmed by this double loss, I did not dare to return home, but came to seek my fortune in Paris.”

“Good!” cried a third, “the wind has changed into a crow.  I heard you tell M. de Loignac that the wind had carried it away while you were reading a letter from your mistress.”

“Now,” cried St. Maline, “I have the honor of knowing M. d’Aubigne, who, though a brave soldier, writes well, and I recommend you to tell him the history of your hat; he will make a charming story of it.”

Several stifled laughs were heard.

“Ah! gentlemen,” cried the Gascon, “do you laugh at me?”

They turned away to laugh again.

Perducas threw a glance around him, and saw a young man near the fireplace hiding his face in his hands.  He thought it was to laugh, and, going up to him, struck him on the shoulder, saying—­

“Eh! monsieur, if you laugh, at all events show your face.”

The young man looked up; it was our friend Ernanton de Carmainges.

“I beg you will leave me alone,” said he, “I was not thinking of you.”

Pincornay turned away, grumbling; but at this moment an officer entered.

“M. de Loignac!” cried twenty voices.

At this name, known through all Gascony, every one rose and kept silence.

CHAPTER IX.

M. De Loignac.

“Supper!” cried M. de Loignac; “and from this moment let all be friends, and love each other like brothers.”