"Now," resumed he, "let us go quickly to the house. I am in haste to
feel at home; and I am hungry, having had nothing to-day, but some
detestable broth, at I know not what way station."
M. de Commarin had returned to Paris in a very bad temper, his journey
to Austria had not brought the results he had hoped for. To crown his
dissatisfaction, he had rested, on his homeward way, at the chateau of
an old friend, with whom he had had so violent a discussion that they
had parted without shaking hands. The count was hardly seated in his
carriage before he entered upon the subject of this disagreement.
"I have quarrelled with the Duke de Sairmeuse," said he to his son.
"That seems to me to happen whenever you meet," answered Albert, without
intending any raillery.
"True," said the count: "but this is serious. I passed four days at his
country-seat, in a state of inconceivable exasperation. He has entirely
forfeited my esteem. Sairmeuse has sold his estate of Gondresy, one of
the finest in the north of France. He has cut down the timber, and
put up to auction the old chateau, a princely dwelling, which is to be
converted into a sugar refinery; all this for the purpose, as he says,
of raising money to increase his income!"
"And was that the cause of your rupture?" inquired Albert, without much
surprise.
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