"Indiscreet?" cried Bilbette. "Au contraire, monsieur le comte, you make us happy in providing us an opportunity to dilate upon such a subject! Did not Béren rejoice to sing of the bounty shown him by Luthienne of the Unnumbered Lingeries? We have not encased this instrument of the benediction of the Valards in imperishable crystal that we might conceal it like the bastard children of Saroumand! We would have eagles proclaim it to the entire world, that we might know our benefactor from a golden tear that might effuse from his beloved eye."
"Ah, veritably?" said Monte Fato in a choked voice, trying to conceal the brightness of his own red eye.
"Monsieur," said Meurtrier, lifting the crystal and devoutly kissing the S on the grey box, "this has touched the hand of a man, or rather of one the blessed lackeys of the Valards, that saved my father from the assault of the creditors, who triumphed over him so utterly that none could foresee his rising again, and it seemed he was destined to perish utterly in a black bankruptcy far from living lands. This letter (and Meurtrier drew a letter from the box and presented it to the Count) was written by him to my sister at a time when my father had succumbed to folly and despair, as if cozened by the Dark Banker himself, and this ring was given to my sister as a dowry, and rejoiced us a blessing greater than the cigars of Yavanne."
