The Parisians, Book 1.

able with some little difficulty. Lemercier proposed a private cab

and unrequested ordered

nce coquettishly, for Lemercier was 'beau garcon;' others turned aside indignantly, and muttered something to the gentlemen dining with them. The said gentlemen, when old, shook their heads, and continued to eat unmoved; when young, turned briskly round, and looked at first fiercely a

our,' Duplessis, 'bon jour,'" kissing his hand to a gentleman who had just entered and was looking about him for a seat. He was evidently well and favourably known at the Trois Fr

was secure, having ordered his oysters, his chablis, and his 'potage a la bis

t, and give the reader a rapi

ars rings on his fingers, 'breloques' to his watch-chain. He has a warm though dark complexion, thick black eyebrows, full lips, a nose somewhat turned up, but not small

men who follow the fashions wear their neckcloths nowadays; a hawk's eye and a hawk's beak; hair of a dull brown, very short, and wholly without curl; his cheeks thin and smoothly shaven, but he wears a mustache and imperial, plagiarized from those of his sovereign, and, like all plagiarisms, carrying the borrowed beauty to extremes, so that the points of mustache and imperial, stiffened and sharpened by cosmetics which must have been composed of iron, looked like three long stings guarding lip and jaw f

to call on me yesterday at two o'clock. I wa

fall much lower: foolish to buy in yet; so the object of my calling on you was over. I took i

an old friend, to whom I consecrate this evening. Let me intr

gentleme

known to Monsieur your

t. "He had not visited Paris

him, at the house of the

nd made no reply. Here the waiter brought the oysters a

Frederic, as he squeezed the lemon over h

g at least to admire

the bluntness

prejudice. He dresses his face after the Em

amiable one. He looks

owls the sages. Duplessis is not an eagle nor an owl. I should rathe

the Marquis, indifferently; "M.

e be has read much himself. Might have distinguished himself in literature or at the bar, but his parents died fearfully poor; and some distant relations in commerce took charge of him, and devoted his talents to the 'Bourse.' Seven years ago he lived in a single chamber, 'au quatrieme,' near the Luxembourg. He has now a hotel, not large but charming, in the Champs Elyse

ous dissent, and changed the conversatio

e sum. When they were out of the restaurant, Frederic proposed adjourning to his own rooms. "I can promise you an excellent cigar, one of a box given to me by an invaluable young Spaniard attached to the Embassy here. Such ciga

ed to come to your rooms; only don't let me encroach on your

it is one of those Bohemian entertainments at which it would do you harm in the Faubourg to assist, -at lea

r mother's f

will launch you in 'puro coelo,' as Juno mi

quaintance between ou

e the mesalliance of

nuptials! Her second

asc

st Empire, the gra

sent to walk arm-in-arm with me, whose great-grandfather supplied bread to

hesse de Tarascon for marrying the grandson of a butcher, but for marrying the son of a man made duke by a usurper. S

the subject no further. He who interferes in the quarre

ms than a bachelor generally requires; low-pitched, indeed, but of good dimensions, and decorated and furnished with a luxury

at respect which the human mind pays to the evidences of money. Nor was comfort less studied than splendour. Thick carpets covered the floors, doubled and quilted portieres excluded all draughts from chinks in the doors. Having allowed his friend a few minutes to contemplate and ad

n exquisite ordered a valet, well dressed as himself, to bring coffee and liqueurs; and af

compassion at Alain's self-inflicted loss,-"ten years ol

e Marquis, "by the news of your father's illness. We expe

age; so promising an heir should acquire his finishing education under masters at Paris. Long before I was of age, I was initiated into politer mysteries of our capital than those celebrated by Eugene Sue. When I took possession of my fortune five years ago, I was considered a Croesus; and really for that patriarchal time I was wealthy. Now, alas! my accumulations have vanished in my outfit; and sixty thousand francs a-year is the least a Parisian can live upon. It is not o

about the age of thirty, of prepossessing countenance, and with the indefinable air of good-breeding and 'usage du monde.'

ith the true Parisian accent and intonation, "you Frenchmen merit that praise for polished ignorance of the language of barbarians which a distinguished historian best

card, thus drawn from

s hand

RAHAM

Rue d

on a hieroglyphic, and passed it o

nother attempt at the

est ca!' I triumph! al

h ene

I presume it was your father whom I remember as an acquaintance of my own father at Ems. It is many years ago; I was but a child. The Count de Chambord was then at that enervating li

among those who flocked to Ems to do homage to the royal pe

were buried in the grave of the last Stuart, and I honour the gallant men

grace and feeling; the Marquis

who and what is a certain lady who every fine day may be seen walking in a quiet spot at the outskirts of the Bois de Boulogne, not far from the Baron de Rothschild's villa? The said lady arrives at this selected spot in a dark-blue coupe without armorial bearings, punctually at the hour of three. She wears always the same dress,-a kind of gray pearl-coloured silk, with a 'cach

uestered part of the Bois for months; but I will go to-morrow: three o'clock you say,-leave it to me; to-morrow evening, if she is a

alousy comes after love, and not before it. I am not in love; I am only ha

" said Lemercier; "

s, briefly; and he rose, drew on

e and nation; and, catching up his paletot, said hastily, "No, Marquis, do not go yet, and leave our host in solitude; for I have an engagement which presses, and only looked i

pects first to the foreigner who visits our capital, and," he added i

he door; but on reaching the threshold turned back

llowed Graham Vane into the adjoinin

remony. I called to say that the Mademoiselle Duval whose address you sent me is not the right one

iable! she answered you

at

very pretty and yo

he deserved that descript

it has flowed onward more than twenty years.' Never mind: 'soyez tranquille;' I will find your Duval yet if she is to be found. But why could not the f

cting the pearly-robed lady; for in the last I but gratify my own whim, in the first I discharge a promise to a friend. You, so perfect a Frenchman, know the difference; honour is engaged to the first. Be sure you let me know if you find any othe

ow. I fear you made but a poor dinner to-day. But it is always better to arran

young face a proud struggle was visibl

es not exceed five thousand francs a year: my fortunes I cannot hope much to improve. In his own country Alain de Rochebriant has no career." Lemercier was so astonished by this confession that he remained for some moments silent, eyes and mouth both wide open; at length he sprang up, embraced his friend well-nigh sobbing, and exclaimed, "'Tant mieux pour moi!' You must tak

nother man's cost I cannot do without baseness. It does not require to be 'gentilhomme' to feel that: it is enough to be a Frenchman. Come and see me when you can spar