560 DELILLE AT THE CARDRAN-BLEU. 



" Oh, this is the confusion, the bustle, which I love to folly ! What 

 a treat I shall have ! what a renovated field of enjoyment will once 

 again be opened for my mind to revel in ! But let me have a seat. 

 Gar 9 on !" 



He had no sooner uttered the last word, than one of the first actors of 

 the Theatre Fra^ais advanced. 



" What can I do to serve you, monsieur ?" 



" Could you not procure me a table, with three covers, in a little 

 corner, apart from the crowd ? But, nevertheless, let it be so situated, 

 that I can hear what is passing around me in the room." 



" There is a place just adapted for monsieur, vacant : it is in this 

 corner, close to the chimney." 



" That is just the thing I wanted. But tell me what is your name ?" 



" Paul, chef de service, and entirely at your commands." 



" Well, well, my dear Paul, do you only serve us with attention, and 

 you will not repent of having so done. Bring us the carte, and then a 

 bottle of Sauterne ; but let it be genuine. I would have you to know 

 that I am an old gourmet." 



" So much the better, monsieur ; we have no fear on that head here." 



They eat the oysters; to which succeeded the first course. This 

 Delille chose from a carte that his friend read to him. During this 

 a kind of dispute took place at a neighbouring table. Delille was all 

 attention ; yet he could gather no more than the repetition of the words 

 prime, usance, de livraisons a credit. 



" I hear," said the poet, smiling, ce that we have some brokers and 

 bankers at hand. It appears that there must have been a rise in the 

 public funds this morning." 



From another table arose, by degrees, the chatter of three women, 

 whose immoderate laughter, and one or two wily turns in their conver- 

 sation, led the poet to believe that they were the wives of rich wood- 

 merchants, from the He Louviers, who, in the absence of their husbands, 

 had come to repeat the cheer of Les trois Commeres. 



" Oh," cried Delille, " if I were only a young man, what pleasure I 

 should feel just to provoke those three dames ; just to dispute with 

 them for one half hour. I never heard observations more original, or 

 remarks more diverting." 



As soon as the first service had been removed, Delille's friend inten- 

 tionally raised his voice, and said, 



" Well, well, my dear Delille, do you feel yourself comfortable ?" 



" Do not mention my name so loud. You will make me known, and 

 I shall be forced to retire." 



He had scarcely finished this sentence, when a member of the Aca- 

 demy came up to him, and, with the dialect of an inhabitant du port St. 

 Bernard, exclaimed, 



" Ah! what do I hear, sir? Monsieur is undoubtedly the great wine 

 merchant in the Rue des Marmouzets, a lafemme sans lete" 



" No, sir, no ; I am not a wine merchant : am I, my dear ?" said he 

 to Madame Delille, with the most gracious smile. 



" Do not think to deceive me," said the academician. " I know my 

 man, and many a good glass of wine have I drunk at his magazine, and 

 I thank him for it. So, as I am going by the diligence to Auxerre, in 

 two hours, if Monsieur Delille has any commands to give, he may de- 



