The services were over, and
the worshippers were leaving the church.
Soon there appeared upon the porch the man in question, with a young
girl of dazzling beauty leaning upon his arm.
Father Chupin walked straight toward him, and brusquely delivered his
message.
M. Lacheneur staggered beneath the blow. He turned first so red, then so
frightfully pale, that those around him thought he was about to fall.
But he quickly recovered his self-possession, and without a word to the
messenger, he walked rapidly away, leading his daughter.
Some minutes later an old post-chaise, drawn by four horses, dashed
through the village at a gallop, and paused before the house of the
village cure.
Then one might have witnessed a singular spectacle.
Father Chupin had gathered his wife and his children together, and the
four surrounded the carriage, shouting, with all the power of their
lungs:
"Long live the Duc de Sairmeuse!"
CHAPTER II
A gently ascending road, more than two miles in length, shaded by a
quadruple row of venerable elms, led from the village to the Chateau de
Sairmeuse.
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