ehind the spectators, were some cattle in
their stalls, that stared at the unwonted scene with an expression of
stupid wonder in their great, soft eyes--the eyes that Homer, the grand
old Greek poet, deemed worthy to supply an epithet for the beauteous
orbs of majestic Juno herself--and in the midst of one of the most
exciting parts of the play, a calf among them was moved to express its
emotions by an unearthly groan, which did not in the least disconcert
the audience, but had nearly been too much for the gravity of the actors
upon the stage.

Captain Fracasse won much applause, and indeed acted his part admirably,
being under no constraint; for he did not need to fear the criticism of
this rustic audience as he would have done that of a more cultivated and
experienced one; and, too, he felt sure that there could be nobody among
the spectators that knew him, or anything about him. The other actors
were also vigorously clapped by the toil-hardened hands of these lowly
tillers of the soil--whose applause throughout was bestowed, Bellombre
declared, judiciously and intelligently. Serafina executed her Moorish
dance with a degree of agility and voluptuous grace that would have
done honour to a professional ballet-dancer, or to a Spanish gipsy, and
literally brought down the house.

But while de Sigognac was thus employed, far from his ancient chateau,
the portraits of his ancestors that hung upon its walls were frowning
darkly at the degeneracy of this last scion of their noble race, and a
sigh, almost a groan, that issued from their faded lips, echoed dismally
through the deserted house. In the kitchen, Pierre, with Miraut and
Beelzebub on either side of him--all three looking melancholy and
forlorn--sat thinking of his absent lord, and said aloud, "Oh, where is
my poor, dear master now?" a big tear rolling down his withered cheek as
he stooped to caress his dumb companions.

CHAPTER VIII. THE DUKE OF VALLOMBREUSE

The next morning Bellombre drew Blazius aside, and untying the strings
of a long leathern purse emptied out of it into the palm of his hand a
hundred pistoles, which he piled up neatly on the table by which they
were standing; to the great admiration of the pedant, who thought to
himself that his friend was a lucky fellow to be in possession of so
large a sum--absolute wealth in his eyes. But what was his surprise when
Bellombre swept them all up and put them into his own hands.

"You must have underst