the Duc
d'Herouville, and the antiquity of his Norman race indicated by his name
("herus villoe"), permitted him to imitate the magnificence of families
who were in other respects his inferiors,--those, for instance, of
Epernon, Luynes, Balagny, d'O, Zamet, regarded as parvenus, but living,
nevertheless, as princes. It was therefore an imposing spectacle for
poor Etienne to see the assemblage of retainers of all kinds attached to
the service of his father.

The duke seated himself on a chair of state placed under a "solium,"
or dais of carved word, above a platform raised by several steps,
from which, in certain provinces, the great seigneurs still delivered
judgment on their vassals,--a vestige of feudality which disappeared
under the reign of Richelieu. These thrones, like the warden's benches
of the churches, have now become objects of collection as curiosities.
When Etienne was placed beside his father on that raised platform, he
shuddered at feeling himself the centre to which all eyes turned.

"Do not tremble," said the duke, bending his bald head to his son's ear;
"these people are only our servants."

Through the dusky light produced by the setting sun, the rays of which
were reddening the leaded panes of the windows, Etienne saw the
bailiff, the captain and lieutenant of the guard, with certain of their
men-at-arms, the chaplain, the secretaries, the doctor, the majordomo,
the ushers, the steward, the huntsmen, the game-keeper, the grooms,
and the valets. Though all these people stood in respectful attitudes,
induced by the terror the old man inspired in even the most important
persons under his command, a low murmur, caused by curiosity and
expectation, made itself heard. That sound oppressed the bosom of the
young man, who felt for the first time in his life the influence of
the heavy atmosphere produced by the breath of many persons in a closed
hall. His senses, accustomed to the pure and wholesome air from the sea,
were shocked with a rapidity that proved the super-sensitiveness of
his organs. A horrible palpitation, due no doubt to some defect in the
organization of his heart, shook him with reiterated blows when his
father, showing himself to the assemblage like some majestic old lion,
pronounced in a solemn voice the following brief address:--

"My friends, this is my son Etienne, my first-born son, my heir
presumptive, the Duc de Nivron, to whom the king will no doubt grant
the honors of his decease