"O great glory and splendour!" cried Morrie. "And all my wishes have come true!"
Monte Fato gently donned his Ring and vanished, and sped on another errand of mercy, to greet Rosédès and Réginard on their triumphant return from Érebeur.
The Annuminasian newspapers were full of nothing else. The Countess de Pérégrin and her son Réginard had returned with a live dragon in tow, which they had tamed and taught proper manners such as what vintage to drink when carrying on an affair with a dwarf-ballerina.
Annuminasian snobbery had its say, and there were those who found the triumphal procession (with the dragon in a chaise longue and clad in a redingote) to be a tasteless exhibition. But the public were enthralled with the spectacle, and were deeply moved when the dragon was donated to the zoological gardens. The whole shocking incident of the Count de Pérégrin's suicide and of Réginard's failed duel with Monte Fato had been covered with the dust of oblivion as Trolquien's carpet was covered aforetime with the contents of his pipe.
After the journalists had been cleared away, the Count of Monte Fato and the Countess of Pérégrin held an intimate tête-à-tête with only 144 spectators present. As Réginard led away the dragon, the Count took Rosédès by the hand.
