For the sake of propriety, he did not say anything to his companions, but nodded to them slightly.  Immediately a great sigh of relief went up from all breasts; joy brightened every face.  Loiseau exclaimed:  “By Jove, I’ll treat to champagne if any is left in this house!”—­And Madame Loiseau felt a pang when the inn-keeper returned with four bottles in his hand.  Every one had suddenly become communicative and merry; a lively joy filled the hearts.  The Count seemed to notice that Madame Carre-Lamadon was charming; the manufacturer paid compliments to the Countess; the conversation was lively, gay and full of witticisms.

Suddenly Loiseau, with an alarmed face, raised his arms and shouted:  “Silence!” They all stopped talking, were surprised nay even frightened.  Then he listened, said “Hush!” signaling with his two hands, raised his eyes to the ceiling, listened again and, in his natural voice, he resumed:  “Don’t be afraid, everything is all right!”

They hesitated to understand what he meant, but soon a smile lighted up all the faces.

After a quarter of an hour, he started again the same farce and repeated it often during the evening; he mimicked as if he were calling a person on the second floor and giving her equivocal advices drawn from his imagination of a commercial traveler.  At times he assumed a dismal air and sighed:—­“Poor girl!”—­or he muttered in his teeth, with a peevish air:—­“Rascal of a Prussian!”—­Several times, when the others did not think of it, he called out repeatedly in a vibrating voice:  “Enough!  Enough!” and he added as if soliloquizing:—­“Provided that we see her again and that the wretch does not kill her!”

Although such jokes were in very bad taste, they amused more than they shocked the company, for indignation like everything else depends on environment, and the atmosphere that had gradually developed around them was laden with naughty thoughts.

At dessert, even the women indulged in witty and discreet allusions.  Their eyes were bright and gleaming; they had drunk considerably.  The Count who, even in his moments of relaxation, preserved a dignified appearance, found a comparison with the end of winter in the polar regions and the joy of the ship-wrecked mariners when they see a way open to the South; and this comparison was greatly appreciated.

Loiseau, warmed up, rose to his feet with a glass of champagne in his hands:—­“I drink to our deliverance!”—­Everybody stood up; he was acclaimed.  Even the two good sisters, urged by the ladies, consented to moisten their lips with the sparkling wine, which they had never tasted.  They declared that it tasted like sparkling lemonade, but that it was finer.

Loiseau summed up the situation: 

—­“What a pity that there is no piano!  We might have danced a quadrille!”—­