r to each of them. The two elder, Agatha and Chimene, are just in
the act of reading theirs, when they hear a serenade outside, and
shortly afterwards the two lovers are standing in the room, having
taken their way through the window. The Marquis Flarembel and his
friend, the Marquis de la Bluette are just making a most ardent
declaration of love, when Mme. la Marquise enters to present to her
elder daughters the two bridegrooms she has chosen for them. The young
men hide behind the ample dresses of the young ladies, and all begin to
sing with great zeal, Miton beating the measure, so that some time
elapses, before the Marquise is able to state her errand. Of course
her words excite great terror, the girls flying to the other side of
the room with their lovers and receiving the two elderly suitors, Baron
de Merlussac and Gautru, a rich old financier, with great coolness and
a refusal of their {301} costly gifts. When the suitors are gone, the
two young strangers are detected and the angry mother decides at once
to send her daughters to a convent, from which they shall only issue on
their wedding-day.

When they have departed in a most crest-fallen condition, the old
Marquis returns from his audience with the King and relates its
astounding results. His Majesty had been so peremptory in his
questioning about the Marquis' son and heir, that the Marquis, losing
his presence of mind, promised to present his son at Court on the
King's demand. The only question now is where to find a son to adopt,
as the Marquis has only four daughters. Miton, the ever-useful, at
once presents Benoit to the parents, engaging himself to drill the
peasant into a nice cavalier in ten lessons. Benoit takes readily to
his new position; he is fitted out at once and when the merchants come,
offering their best in cloth and finery, he treats them with an
insolence, worthy of the proudest Seigneur. He even turns from his
sweet-heart Javotte.

In the second act Benoit, dressed like the finest cavalier, gives a
masked ball in his father's gardens. Half Versailles is invited, but
having taken the Court Almanac to his aid, he has made the mistake of
inviting many people who have long been dead. Those who do appear,
seem to him to be very insipid, and wanting some friends with whom he
can enjoy himself, the useful Miton presents the Marquis de la Bluette
and de Flarembel, who are {302} delighted to make the acquaintance of
their sweethearts'