For the rest, the painting has a funeste influence; it is rare that my mother sees it without weeping, perhaps because it is the only shadow, though as small as the wings of the Eldards, that ever came between the Count and the Countess, who are otherwise as united now as they were when they leapt over the broom of Varda."
The Count gave his interlocutor a penetrating glance, but saw nothing but the innocence of a young hobbite.
"And now, monsieur," concluded Réginard, "do me the honor of accompanying me in the presence of M. de Pérégrin, to whom I wrote from Lottaloria of the services you rendered me there, and of the visit you had promised me, and above all of your remarkable connoisseurship in the matter of mushrooms, for which he has a passion surpassing even the greediest likings of porcines - a fact which partly explains his long military expeditions in his youth, for which he received the Mushroom of Gold. And I may say that the Count and Countess awaited with impatience that it be permitted them to thank you. You are a bit blasé about everything, mon cher comte, as befits one who lives among the best company in both worlds, and scenes of family life have over the Lord of the Rings but little effect; nevertheless accept that I introduce you, as initiation into the vie annumasienne, the life of visits, civilities, and hobbiteries."
