"Good-morning, father," said Victorin, offering his hand.
"Good-morning, children," said the pompous Crevel. "Madame la Baronne,
I throw myself at your feet! Good Heavens, how the children grow! they
are pushing us off the perch--'Grand-pa,' they say, 'we want our turn
in the sunshine.'--Madame la Comtesse, you are as lovely as ever," he
went on, addressing Hortense.--"Ah, ha! and here is the best of good
money: Cousin Betty, the Wise Virgin."
"Why, you are really very comfortable here," said he, after scattering
these greetings with a cackle of loud laughter that hardly moved the
rubicund muscles of his broad face.
He looked at his daughter with some contempt.
"My dear Celestine, I will make you a present of all my furniture out
of the Rue des Saussayes; it will just do here. Your drawing-room
wants furnishing up.--Ha! there is that little rogue Wenceslas. Well,
and are we very good children, I wonder? You must have pretty manners,
you know."
"To make up for those who have none," said Lisbeth.
"That sarcasm, my dear Lisbeth, has lost its sting. I am going, my
dear children, to put an end to the false position in which I have so
long been placed; I have come, like a good father, to announce my
approaching marriage without any circumlocution.
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