By and by they
would have a table for themselves, and in their turn celebrate the
diamond wedding. And it was amid exclamations and merry laughter that
they brought the first dishes.
All at once, however, the serving ceased, silence fell, an unexpected
incident attracted all attention. A young man, whom none apparently could
recognize, was stepping across the lawn, between the arms of the
horse-shoe table. He smiled gayly as he walked on, only stopping when he
was face to face with Mathieu and Marianne. Then in a loud voice he said:
"Good day, grandfather! good day, grandmother! You must have another
cover laid, for I have come to celebrate the day with you."
The onlookers remained silent, in great astonishment. Who was this young
man whom none had ever seen before? Assuredly he could not belong to the
family, for they would have known his name, have recognized his face?
Why, then, did he address the ancestors by the venerated names of
grandfather and grandmother? And the stupefaction was the greater by
reason of his extraordinary resemblance to Mathieu. Assuredly, he was a
Froment, he had the bright eyes and the lofty tower-like forehead of the
race.
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