"Beloved!" cried Samouard Gamgès. "I am rich from the potato cargo we transported to Brie and Rivendeau. We can now, at long last, marry, et c'est un fait, ça! And Monsieur Morrie, the kindly ship-owner, has promised to make me captain, since Captain Trasque has passed away. And my poor father, who has been waiting lo these many months for my return, never complaining though he was starving to death and suffering from a nasty case of dysentery - do you know what he said to me just now? Tout va bien qui finit encore mieux!"
"Ah!" sighed Rosédès, laughing through her mithril-bright tears. "Nothing can destroy our happiness now!"
"Grrrrr!" remarked Pippand.
"How odd; I never noticed we were a threesome," commented Samouard.
"Oh, Pippand, I forgot you were there!" giggled Rosédès. "Shake hands with my beloved Samouard, for since you are my friend, you will be his friend as well."
A more suspicious person might well have wondered just what Pippand was doing in Rosédès's bedroom, but Samouard was an honest, simple soul who wouldn't suspect a Ringwraith of foul play, so he smiled and shook Pippand by the hand. Pippand said nothing, but scowled in as friendly a manner as he could muster.
"Let us go out and promenade by l'Eau, ma petite pomme de terre," said Gamgès. "I love thee, me dear, et c'est un fait, ça!"
