“Now, that’s what I call speaking out as a friend should.  I wish you luck, my gallant Chevalier de Moranges, and until you unearth your father, if you want a little money, my purse is at your service.  On my word, de Jars, you must have been born with a caul.  There never was your equal for wonderful adventures.  This one promises well-spicy intrigues, scandalous revelations, and you’ll be in the thick of it all.  You’re a lucky fellow!  It’s only a few months since you had the most splendid piece of good fortune sent you straight from heaven.  A fair lady falls in love with you and makes you carry her off from the convent of La Raquette.  But why do you never let anyone catch a glimpse of her?  Are you jealous?  Or is it that she is no such beauty, after all, but old and wrinkled, like that knave of a Mazarin?”

“I know what I’m about,” answered de Jars, smiling; “I have my very good reasons.  The elopement caused a great deal of indignation, and it’s not easy to get fanatics to listen to common sense.  No, I am not in the least jealous; she is madly in love with me.  Ask my nephew.”

“Does he know her?”

“We have no secrets from each other; the confidence between us is without a flaw.  The fair one, believe me, is good to look on, and is worth all the ogling, fan-flirting baggages put together that one sees at court or on the balconies of the Palais Roy:  ah!  I’ll answer for that.  Isn’t she, Moranges?”

“I’m quite of your opinion,” said the youth; exchanging with de jars a singularly significant look; “and you had better treat her well, uncle, or I shall play you some trick.”

“Ah! ah!” cried Jeannin.  “You poor fellow!  I very much fear that you are warming a little serpent in your bosom.  Have an eye to this dandy with the beardless chin!  But joking apart, my boy, are you really on good terms with the fair lady?”

“Certainly I am.”

“And you are not uneasy, commander?”

“Not the least little bit.”

“He is quite right.  I answer for her as for my self, you know; as long as he loves her she will love him; as long as he is faithful she will be faithful.  Do you imagine that a woman who insists on her lover carrying her off can so easily turn away from the man of her choice?  I know her well; I have had long talks with her, she and I alone:  she is feather-brained, given to pleasure, entirely without prejudices and those stupid scruples which spoil the lives of other women; but a good sort on the whole; devoted to my uncle, with no deception about her; but at the same time extremely jealous, and has no notion of letting herself be sacrificed to a rival.  If ever she finds herself deceived, good-bye to prudence and reserve, and then—­”

A look and a touch of the commander’s knee cut this panegyric short, to which the treasurer was listening with open-eyed astonishment.

“What enthusiasm!” he exclaimed.  “Well, and then——­”