Whilst one massacred the family of Villefaramir and burgled the palace of Monte Fato, the Count de Pérégrin was having his own troubles. For articles began to appear in the newspapers that suggested some dark secret in his past, more sinister than the unmentionables of the ents.
His son Réginard had therefore importuned Pierre-Jacques-Philippe-Michel Boyen-Xènes-Baguines, his friend the journalist and connoisseur of tobacco, in whose newspaper these rumours appeared, to prove them false and retract them; Pierre-Jacques-Philippe-Michel Boyen-Xènes-Baguines had thereupon left Annuminas for an extended period. Fortunately, the canards appeared to have fallen by the wayside, as the gossips were more interested in the upcoming marriage between Éowénie and Andurillo, and none had seen fit to recognise the officer who had betrayed Ala-Pallando in the noble count sitting in the Chambre des moutants.
One morning, Réginard was awakened by a valet who announced the arrival of Pierre-Jacques-Philippe-Michel Boyen-Xènes-Baguines.
"Réginard, I arrive from Quirithe-Oungallant," said Pierre-Jacques-Philippe-Michel Boyen-Xènes-Baguines.
