_he_ will not make any
difficulty," said Modeste, scornfully.

Butscha did not understand this epigram, whose meaning could only be
guessed by Monsieur and Madame Mignon and Dumay.

"When it is a question of marriage, all men disguise themselves,"
remarked Latournelle, "and women set them the example. I've heard
it said ever since I came into the world that 'Monsieur this or
Mademoiselle that has made a good marriage,'--meaning that the other
side had made a bad one."

"Marriage," said Butscha, "is like a lawsuit; there's always one side
discontented. If one dupes the other, certainly half the husbands in the
world are playing a comedy at the expense of the other half."

"From which you conclude, Sieur Butscha?" inquired Modeste.

"To pay the utmost attention to the manoeuvres of the enemy," answered
the clerk.

"What did I tell you, my darling?" said Charles Mignon, alluding to
their conversation on the seashore.

"Men play as many parts to get married as mothers make their daughters
play to get rid of them," said Latournelle.

"Then you approve of stratagems?" said Modeste.

"On both sides," cried Gobenheim, "and that brings it even."

This conversation was carried on by fits and starts, as they say, in the
intervals of cutting and dealing the cards; and it soon turned chiefly
on the merits of the Duc d'Herouville, who was thought very good-looking
by little Latournelle, little Dumay, and little Butscha. Without the
foregoing discussion on the lawfulness of matrimonial tricks, the
reader might possibly find the forthcoming account of the evening so
impatiently awaited by Butscha, somewhat too long.

Desplein, the famous surgeon, arrived the next morning, and stayed only
long enough to send to Havre for fresh horses and have them put-to,
which took about an hour. After examining Madame Mignon's eyes, he
decided that she could recover her sight, and fixed a suitable time, a
month later, to perform the operation. This important consultation took
place before the assembled members of the Chalet, who stood trembling
and expectant to hear the verdict of the prince of science. That
illustrious member of the Academy of Sciences put about a dozen brief
questions to the blind woman as he examined her eyes in the strong light
from a window. Modeste was amazed at the value which a man so celebrated
attached to time, when she saw the travelling-carriage piled with books
which the great surgeon proposed to read during