If, to get rid of these Parisians I need the help of the Order, will you lend me a hand?
Oh! within the limits we have marked out for our fooleries," he added hastily, perceiving a general hesitation.

"Do you suppose I want to kill them,--poison them?
Thank God I'm not an idiot.

Besides, if the Bridaus succeed, and Flore has nothing but what she stands in, I should be satisfied; do you understand that?
I love her enough to prefer her to Mademoiselle Fichet,--if Mademoiselle Fichet would have me." Mademoiselle Fichet was the richest heiress in Issoudun, and the hand of the daughter counted for much in the reported passion of the younger Goddet for the mother.

Frankness of speech is a pearl of such price that all the Knights rose to their feet as one man.
"You are a fine fellow, Max!" "Well said, Max; we'll stand by you!" "A fig for the Bridaus!" "We'll bridle them!" "After all, it is only three swains to a shepherdess." "The deuce! Pere Lousteau loved Madame Rouget; isn't it better to love a housekeeper who is not yoked ?" "If the defunct Rouget was Max's father, the affair is in the family." "Liberty of opinion now-a-days!" "Hurrah for Max!" "Down with all hypocrites!" "Here's a health to the beautiful Flore!" Such were the eleven responses, acclamations, and toasts shouted forth by the Knights of Idleness, and characteristic, we may remark, of their excessively relaxed morality.

It is now easy to see what interest Max had in becoming their grand master.