“She gets it from father to son,” observed Goddet, in his corner.

“You think,” continued Max, smiling at Goddet’s speech, “that I intend to marry Flore when Pere Rouget dies, and so this sister and her son, of whom I hear to-night for the first time, will endanger my future?”

“That’s just it,” cried Francois.

“That is what every one thinks who is sitting round this table,” said Baruch.

“Well, don’t be uneasy, friends,” answered Max.  “Forewarned is forearmed!  Now then, I address the Knights of Idleness.  If, to get rid of these Parisians I need the help of the Order, will you lend me a hand?  Oh! within the limits we have marked out for our fooleries,” he added hastily, perceiving a general hesitation.  “Do you suppose I want to kill them,—­poison them?  Thank God I’m not an idiot.  Besides, if the Bridaus succeed, and Flore has nothing but what she stands in, I should be satisfied; do you understand that?  I love her enough to prefer her to Mademoiselle Fichet,—­if Mademoiselle Fichet would have me.”

Mademoiselle Fichet was the richest heiress in Issoudun, and the hand of the daughter counted for much in the reported passion of the younger Goddet for the mother.  Frankness of speech is a pearl of such price that all the Knights rose to their feet as one man.

“You are a fine fellow, Max!”

“Well said, Max; we’ll stand by you!”

“A fig for the Bridaus!”

“We’ll bridle them!”

“After all, it is only three swains to a shepherdess.”

“The deuce!  Pere Lousteau loved Madame Rouget; isn’t it better to love a housekeeper who is not yoked?”

“If the defunct Rouget was Max’s father, the affair is in the family.”

“Liberty of opinion now-a-days!”

“Hurrah for Max!”

“Down with all hypocrites!”

“Here’s a health to the beautiful Flore!”

Such were the eleven responses, acclamations, and toasts shouted forth by the Knights of Idleness, and characteristic, we may remark, of their excessively relaxed morality.  It is now easy to see what interest Max had in becoming their grand master.  By leading the young men of the best families in their follies and amusements, and by doing them services, he meant to create a support for himself when the day for recovering his position came.  He rose gracefully and waved his glass of claret, while all the others waited eagerly for the coming allocution.

“As a mark of the ill-will I bear you, I wish you all a mistress who is equal to the beautiful Flore!  As to this irruption of relations, I don’t feel any present uneasiness; and as to the future, we’ll see what comes—­”

“Don’t let us forget Fario’s cart!”

“Hang it! that’s safe enough!” said Goddet.

“Oh!  I’ll engage to settle that business,” cried Max.  “Be in the market-place early, all of you, and let me know when the old fellow goes for his cart.”