102 TIIK HANDSOME MODEL. 



egad, that's stiff; we must keep that for the last Curacoa ah, swallow 

 that, Pierre, and do your friend justice. You ought to bless Providence for 

 having granted me to you, for^you were living alone, like a wolf." " Oh, 

 no ; I used to go see father Bernard, and Manette very good friends of 

 Andrew " " Bernard Manette I think you mentioned them before is 

 not he a water-carrier ?" " Exactly." " Fie, for shame ! What, Pierre, 

 in the situation in which destiny has placed you, to keep company with 

 water-carriers ! That is not right, my man, one should never forget one's- 

 self now for the aniseed." " But I, what was I but an errand-boy ?" 

 " To be sure you were, but you are no longer so, d'ye see that's passed, 

 just like a rogue who becomes an honest man, no one thinks of calling him 

 a rogue one sees that every day of one's life. I tell you again you must 

 keep up your consequence though I don't mean to say you are never to 

 speak to the water-carrier : you may even go and see him now and then, 

 when we have nothing particular to do but I mean that you are not to put 

 yourself on a level with him, because you will pick up low-lived manners 

 and habits, whilst I wish to make a gentleman of you brandy ! taste that 

 how do you like it?" " Every thing seems to me to taste alike." 

 " Psha! you don't know what you are talking about. Pierre, I will take 

 upon me to collect a few friends together lads in my own style capital 

 good fellows ; I will take you to the best balls of La Courtille, at the Por- 

 cherons, at the Barriere du Maine I know the best places Hey, for plea- 

 sure, and to the devil with your friends who would preach sermons to you. 

 This very evening we'll go waltz at the Barriere de Vaugirard. where they 

 waltz all the week : you merely lend me a coat, waistcoat, and trowsers, 

 and I will find the rest. Come, join in the chorus of Robin-des-bois do 

 yon know it, tra, la, la ; tra, la, la, la I sing it every Monday with a 

 turner and a baker's wife, and you can't conceive the effect ; its tra, la, la, 

 from this till to-morrow not at all difficult." 



By dint of drinking, singing, and tasting every bottle, Pierre and Rossignol 

 at length became completely drunk. Pierre, who swore that every thing in 

 the room turned round, insisted on waltzing to keep himself steady, and was 

 soon stretched under the table ; whilst Rossignol, after chucking the dishes 

 and plates to the other end of the room, rolled himself in Francois's great 

 coat, and fell fast asleep between the skeleton of a fowl, and a bottle of oil 

 of roses. 



Manette finds out Andrew, and by dint of the most quiet and affec- 

 tionate attention, soothes, and brings him back to Paris, from the 

 neighbourhood of those scenes, where, in boyhood, he had freely 

 sported with Adolphine. On his return he finds his apartments de- 

 spoiled of their principal valuables all about him indicates ruin, 

 riot, and recklessness. Rossignol and Pierre come in, both drunk, 

 the former dressed in Andrew's clothes. He is soundly threshed by 

 Andrew, and kicked out. Pierre repents, and resumes his porter's 

 knot. Andrew marries Manette, and goes with Pierre to the house 

 of a traiteur, near the Pont d'Austerlitz, to order the wedding dinner. 

 While making a bargain but let us give a final extract. 



As we passed before the window of a summer house, we heard the noise 

 of people disputing, and a loud voice, that Pierre and I recognized at once, 

 said " You can't prevent me from walking in your garden, my good woman 

 the fresh air will restore me ' You tell me, dear girl. I am yiven to rove.' " 

 " I did not come here to listen to your singing, Sir," said the wife of my 

 host ; " pay your bill, and be off." " Express yourself correctly, then, my 

 lovely Niobe ; you desire me to go away, and yet you won't let me go out 

 you don't argue logically." " It is Rossignol," whispered Pierre. " Yes, 

 no doubt it is he. What is this quarrel about?" said I to the traiteur. 



