your proposal," she said to the landlord, who
jumped as if suddenly awakened by her words.

"What proposal?" he asked with genuine surprise.

"What proposal?" asked Corentin, entering the kitchen.

"What proposal?" asked Mademoiselle de Verneuil, returning to it.

"What proposal?" asked a fourth individual on the lower step of the
staircase, who now sprang lightly into the kitchen.

"Why, the breakfast with your persons of distinction," replied Francine,
impatiently.

"Distinction!" said the ringing and ironical voice of the person who had
just come down the stairway. "My good fellow, that strikes me as a very
poor inn joke; but if it's the company of this young female citizen that
you want to give us, we should be fools to refuse it. In my mother's
absence, I accept," he added, striking the astonished innkeeper on the
shoulder.

The charming heedlessness of youth disguised the haughty insolence
of the words, which drew the attention of every one present to the
new-comer. The landlord at once assumed the countenance of Pilate
washing his hands of the blood of that just man; he slid back two steps
to reach his wife's ear, and whispered, "You are witness, if any harm
comes of it, that it is not my fault. But, anyhow," he added, in a voice
that was lower still, "go and tell Monsieur Marche-a-Terre what has
happened."

The traveller, who was a young man of medium height, wore a dark blue
coat and high black gaiters coming above the knee and over the breeches,
which were also of blue cloth. This simple uniform, without epaulets,
was that of the pupils of the Ecole Polytechnique. Beneath this plain
attire Mademoiselle de Verneuil could distinguish at a glance the
elegant shape and nameless _something_ that tells of natural nobility.
The face of the young man, which was rather ordinary at first sight,
soon attracted the eye by the conformation of certain features which
revealed a soul capable of great things. A bronzed skin, curly fair
hair, sparkling blue eyes, a delicate nose, motions full of ease, all
disclosed a life guided by noble sentiments and trained to the habit
of command. But the most characteristic signs of his nature were in the
chin, which was dented like that of Bonaparte, and in the lower lip,
which joined the upper one with a graceful curve, like that of an
acanthus leaf on the capital of a Corinthian column. Nature had given to
these two features of his face an irresistible charm.

"This young man