128 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



Viollet le Due at the expense of the Imperial purse. Pasteur, 

 who, like the philosopher, might have said, " I am never bored 

 but when I am being entertained," made his arrangements 

 so that the day should not be entirely wasted. He made an 

 appointment for his return with the head butler, hoping to 

 find a few diseased wines in the Imperial cellar. That depart- 

 ment, however, was so well administered that he was only 

 able to find seven or eight suspicious-looking bottles. The tall 

 flunkeys, who scarcely realized the scientific interest offered 

 by a basketful of wine bottles, watched Pasteur more or less 

 ironically as he returned to his room, where he had the pleasure 

 of finding his microscope and case of instruments sent from the 

 Eue d'Ulm. He remained upstairs, absorbed as he would 

 have been in his laboratory, in the contemplation of a drop 

 of bitter wine revealing the tiny mycoderma which caused the 

 bitterness. 



In the meanwhile some of the other guests were gathered 

 in the smoking room, smilingly awaiting the Empress's five 

 o'clock tea, whilst others were busy with the preparations 

 for the performance of Racine's Plaideurs, which Provost, 

 Regnier, Got, Delaunay, Coquelin, and Mademoiselle 

 Jouassain were going to act that very evening in the theatre 

 of the palace. 



On the Sunday, at 4 p.m., he was received privately by their 

 Majesties, for their instruction and edification. He wrote 

 in a letter to a friend : ' I went to the Emperor with my 

 microscope, my wine samples, and all my paraphernalia. 

 When I was announced, the Emperor came up to meet me 

 and asked me to come in. M. Conti, who was writing at a 

 table, rose to leave the room, but was invited to stay. Then 

 he fetched the Empress, and I began to show their Majesties 

 various objects under the microscope and to explain them ; 

 it lasted a whole hour." 



The Empress had been much interested, and wished that 

 her five o'clock friends — who were waiting in the room where 

 tea was served — should also acquire some notions of these 

 studies. She merrily took up the microscope, laughing at her 

 new occupation of laboratory attendant, and arrived thus 

 laden in the drawing-room, much to the surprise of her privi- 

 leged guests. Pasteur came in behind her, and gave a short 

 and simple account of a few general ideas and precise 

 discoveries. 



