"Next, monseigneur, we shall go to the ball room, which will be decorated as the Greeks used to decorate the places devoted to such assemblages: flowers, garlands, and mottoes everywhere."
"You will have the mottoes written in French, won't you, Monsieur Férulus?"
"No, monseigneur, in Latin and Greek, that is more dignified."
"Never mind, do me the favor to write them in French; otherwise, if the ladies should ask me for their meaning, it might embarrass me."
"Next, monseigneur, a bomb, fired in your courtyard, will announce the fireworks, which will crown that beautiful day by a rain of fire."
"A rain of fire! The deuce! You will take care that it doesn't rain on the company."
"I will answer for everything, monseigneur; I, myself, shall handle the fireworks, and I am as expert at it as if I had invented powder."
"Well, messieurs, what do you think of this fête?" said Robineau, rubbing his hands in high glee.
"I hope that you will distribute programmes," said Alfred. "But who are to be your guests to-morrow, pray?"
"All the best people of Saint-Amand: nobles, people of great wealth, and men of great merit. You will see, messieurs, that all the agreeable people are not in Paris. And the women too! Dieu! you will see women of all colors!"
"What! do you mean that you expect to have Africans, mulattoes?"
"No, not that; I mean that you will see beauties of all types; and such wit! and such style! It's a pity that we haven't adopted the custom of Turkey; if we had, I would marry twelve wives instead of one, for upon my word, there are more than twelve of whom I have made the conquest. But above all, there is a certain Mademoiselle de la Pincerie. Ah! as for her, I believe that I have dealt her the fatal blow, and she has excited my imagination considerably, too!"
"Who is this Mademoiselle de la Pincerie?"
"She is a charming young lady: tall, well-built and stately, and dances like a fairy! In short, she is Mademoiselle Cornélie de la Pincerie, daughter of Monsieur le Marquis de la Pincerie, of one of the oldest families in Poitou, who settled in Auvergne because they found that butter was cheaper here. It was the father who told me that; he is a very profound thinker, a great political economist. For forty-three years he has been working at a philanthropic project, tending to prove that one can make soup with nothing but a calf's foot, which would effect a great saving in soup stock!"