reached the burgomaster's house. Green tufts of grass
bordered the shining pavement, and no one would have thought of
tearing them away, for they deadened the noise made by the
passers-by.

As they were about to open the door, Frantz thought it his duty
to say to Suzel,--

"You know, Suzel, the great day is approaching?"

"It is indeed, Frantz," replied the young girl, with downcast
eyes.

"Yes," said Frantz, "in five or six years--"

"Good-bye, Frantz," said Suzel.

[Illustration: "Good-bye, Frantz," said Suzel.]

"Good-bye, Suzel," replied Frantz.

And, after the door had been closed, the young man resumed the
way to his father's house with a calm and equal pace.

CHAPTER VII.

IN WHICH THE ANDANTES BECOME ALLEGROS, AND THE ALLEGROS VIVACES.

The agitation caused by the Schut and Custos affair had subsided.
The affair led to no serious consequences. It appeared likely
that Quiquendone would return to its habitual apathy, which that
unexpected event had for a moment disturbed.

Meanwhile, the laying of the pipes destined to conduct the
oxyhydric gas into the principal edifices of the town was
proceeding rapidly. The main pipes and branches gradually crept
beneath the pavements. But the burners were still wanting; for,
as it required delicate skill to make them, it was necessary that
they should be fabricated abroad. Doctor Ox was here, there, and
everywhere; neither he nor Ygene, his assistant, lost a moment,
but they urged on the workmen, completed the delicate mechanism
of the gasometer, fed day and night the immense piles which
decomposed the water under the influence of a powerful electric
current. Yes, the doctor was already making his gas, though the
pipe-laying was not yet done; a fact which, between ourselves,
might have seemed a little singular. But before long,--at least
there was reason to hope so,--before long Doctor Ox would
inaugurate the splendours of his invention in the theatre of the
town.

For Quiquendone possessed a theatre--a really fine edifice, in
truth--the interior and exterior arrangement of which combined
every style of architecture. It was at once Byzantine, Roman,
Gothic, Renaissance, with semicircular doors, Pointed windows,
Flamboyant rose-windows, fantastic bell-turrets,--in a word, a
specimen of all sorts, half a Parthenon, half a Parisian Grand
Cafe. Nor was this surprising, the theatre having been commenced
under the burgomaster Ludwig Van Tricasse, in 1175