ut Mouton's aide-de-camp was no match against the enthusiasm and
ingenuity of Emery and de Marmont, and when he--in his turn--entered
Grenoble soon after five o'clock, he was confronted by the printed
proclamations signed by the familiar and dreaded name "Napoleon" affixed
to the gates of the city, to the Hotel de Ville, the mairie, the prison,
the barracks, and to every street corner in Grenoble.

The three friends had parted at the porte de Bonne, Emery to go to his
friend Dumoulin, the glovemaker--de Marmont to his lodgings in the rue
Montorge, whilst Bobby Clyffurde rode straight back to Brestalou.

A couple of hours later Victor de Marmont had also arrived at the
castle. He too had made an elaborate toilet, and then had driven over in
a hackney coach in advance of the other guests, seeing that he desired
to have a final interview with M. le Comte before he affixed his name to
his _contrat de mariage_ with Mlle. de Cambray. An air of solemnity sat
well upon his good-looking face, but it was obvious that he was
trying--somewhat in vain--to keep an inward excitement in check.

M. le Comte de Cambray, believing that this excitement was entirely due
to the solemnity of the occasion, had smiled indulgently--a trifle
contemptuously too--at young de Marmont's very apparent eagerness. A
vulgar display of feelings, an inability to control one's words and
movements when under the stress of emotion was characteristic of the
parvenus of to-day, and de Marmont's unfettered agitation when coming to
sign his own marriage contract was only on a par with prefet Fourier's
nervousness this afternoon.

The Comte received his future son-in-law with a gracious smile. The
thought of an alliance between Mlle. de Cambray de Brestalou and a de
Marmont of Nowhere had been a bitter pill to swallow, but M. le Comte
was too proud to show how distasteful it had been. Chatting pleasantly
the two men repaired together to the library.

III

Bobby Clyffurde--immaculately dressed in fine cloth coat and satin
breeches, with fine Mechlin lace at throat and wrist, and his light
brown hair tied at the nape of the neck with a big black bow--came down
presently to the reception room. He found the place silent and deserted.

But the stately apartment looked more cosy and home-like than usual. A
cheerful fire was burning in the monumental hearth and the soft light of
the candles fixed in sconces round the walls tempered to a certain
degree that bare