220 A TOUE HOUND MY GAilUEN. 



■willing that the said Edmond should force me to tutoyer him, 

 and being equally unwilling to offend him by not thee and 

 thouiug him after he had made use of that mode of speaking 

 towards me, which would have appeared to me equivalent to 

 withholding your hand from a person who stretches out his 

 to you, an insult that can only be caused by a deep resent- 

 ment. I thought I had discovered a sentence. 



" Yes, but I have not supped." 



"Ah ! thou suppest, dost thou? Well, come, that is not 

 too savage ; I shall find thee better than thou art reputed to 

 be. I am dying with hunger." 



I made a signal to Vara! to get supper ready, and we went 

 into the dining room. The cloth was soon laid. Edmond 

 poured himself out two glasses of wine successively. "What 

 wine is this ? — Bordeaux 1 — Dost thou like Bordeaux ? — Hast 

 thou no Burgundy?" 



Shall I confess, my friend, that I felt myself blush whilst 

 humbly stammering that I had but one sort of wine ? And I 

 must tell you all, I was very near making an excuse, by 

 saying that my wine-merchants had disappointed me, or some 

 other such subterfuge as is employed by people in my 

 situation. 



"Why didst thou have thy dining-room of this dark- 

 coloured wood ? I have a charming one ; it is all in white 

 stucco." 



" That must be very handsome." 



" It is magnificent. Upon a mahogany sideboard are Bo- 

 hemian crystals of the greatest richness." 



At this moment I heard in the garden a noise like that 

 made by a wild deer followed by her &wn, when roused 

 from a thicket. 



" What can that be in the garden ? " 



" Ah ! cried Edmond, I'll ky a wager it is Phanor." 



"What isPhanor?" 



" A superb 'pointer, an English dog." 



" But he is ruining my garden ! " 



I rose in haste. Edmond followed me after finishing what 

 was in his plate, saying, partly to himself, " It's very astonish- 

 ing ! he generally keeps to the walks." When we gained the 

 garden, we could hear a wild chase across the masses of 



