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"My little house is too small; in it there is no worthy place for

so magnificent a gift: let the bear rather abide amid these

horned trophies until the Judge deign to yield it to me together

with the castle."

The Chamberlain, guessing whither things were tending, tapped his

golden snuffbox, and asked for the floor.

"You deserve praise, my neighbour Count," he said, "for caring

for your interests even at dinner time, not living thoughtlessly

from day to day as do fashionable young fellows of your years. I

wish and hope to end the trial in my Chamberlain's court by a

reconciliation; hitherto the only difficulty has been over the

improvements. I have formed a project of exchange, to make up for

the improvements with land, in the following fashion."