On returning from the valley of Chadrat, Alfred and Edouard were not a little surprised to find everything up in arms at the château; servants were running hither and thither, setting up in the courtyard posts upon which lamps were fixed; stringing cords, with colored lanterns attached, along the garden paths; and in the midst of it all, Monsieur Férulus, holding a book in one hand and a corkscrew in the other, went from this person to that person, issuing orders and wiping his brow with the end of his sleeve, because, presumably, he had not yet taken charge of the handkerchief department.
"Bless my soul! what is going to happen here?" asked Alfred.
"Can it be that Monsieur Jules de la Roche-Noire is going to be married?" said Edouard.
"Messieurs," said Férulus, "I have read in some Italian author--as he said this he waved his corkscrew--'_Lontano dagli occhi, lontano dal cuore!_' You, messieurs, are away from the château all day, and consequently you cannot know what is in preparation here. But here is Monseigneur de la Roche-Noire, who will inform you."
Robineau was in fact coming toward the young men at that moment.
"Upon my word, messieurs," he said, "you are very agreeable! I never see you now; you start off in the morning to go--I have a shrewd idea where! If I had not had Monsieur Férulus, this estimable scholar who has established my household upon a magnificent footing, I should never have got through with it. I hope that to-morrow at least you will be kind enough not to absent yourselves. I am giving a party--a magnificent dinner, a ball, and games of all sorts; the entertainment will begin at noon precisely; is that not so, Monsieur Férulus?"
"Yes, monseigneur; at noon the cannon, that is to say, three muskets fired spontaneously, will give the signal for the party."
"Mon Dieu! it is after the style of the Tivoli at Paris," said Alfred.
"First of all," continued Férulus, "a foot race in the gardens, followed by homage to the ladies."
"What is this homage to the ladies to be, Monsieur Férulus?"
"A bouquet presented to each one of them, monseigneur, in which there will be a little compliment in verse, of my composition."
"In order that there may be no jealousy, I shall put the same compliment in each bouquet. Next, a foot race through the apartments of the château."