For a moment there flashed into the woman's mind that it was a pardon.

But the old man undeceived her.
"Do you give it to him, Laure," he said.

"It is that patent of nobility that he gave up.

Acting for my King, who will, I am sure, approve of what I have done, I return it to him.

As he dies with the spirit and soul of a gentleman, so also shall he die with the title.
_Monsieur le Comte d'Aumenier_, I, the head of the house, welcome you into it.