A Start in Life [73]
now that you once did me a very
great harm."
"Pooh!" said Georges, after listening to the explanation for which he
asked; "it was Monsieur de Serizy who behaved badly. His wife! I
wouldn't have her at any price; neither would I like to be in the
count's red skin, minister of State and peer of France as he is. He
has a small mind, and I don't care a fig for him now."
Oscar listened with true pleasure to these slurs on the count, for
they diminished, in a way, the importance of his fault; and he echoed
the spiteful language of the ex-notary, who amused himself by
predicting the blows to the nobility of which the bourgeoisie were
already dreaming,--blows which were destined to become a reality in
1830.
At half-past three the solid eating of the feast began; the dessert
did not appear till eight o'clock,--each course having taken two hours
to serve. None but clerks can eat like that! The stomachs of eighteen
and twenty are inexplicable to the medical art. The wines were worthy
of Borrel, who in those days had superseded the illustrious Balaine,
the creator of the first restaurant for delicate and perfectly
prepared food in Paris,--that is to say, the whole world.
The report of this Belshazzar's feast for the architriclino-basochien
register was duly drawn up, beginning, "Inter pocula aurea
restauranti, qui vulgo dicitur Rupes Cancali." Every one can imagine
the fine page now added to the Golden Book of jurisprudential
festivals.
Godeschal disappeared after signing the report, leaving the eleven
guests, stimulated by the old captain of the Imperial Guard, to the
wines, toasts, and liqueurs of a dessert composed of choice and early
fruits, in pyramids that rivalled the obelisk of Thebes. By half-past
ten the little sub-clerk was in such a state that Georges packed him
into a coach, paid his fare, and gave the address of his mother to the
driver. The remaining ten, all as drunk as Pitt and Dundas, talked of
going on foot along the boulevards, considering the fine evening, to
the house of the Marquise de las Florentinas y Cabirolos, where, about
midnight, they might expect to find the most brilliant society of
Paris. They felt the need of breathing the pure air into their lungs;
but, with the exception of Georges, Giroudeau, du Bruel, and Finot,
all four accustomed to Parisian orgies, not one of the party could
walk. Consequently, Georges sent to a livery-stable for three open
carriages, in which he drove his company for an hour round the
exterior boulevards from Monmartre to the Barriere du Trone. They
returned by Bercy, the quays, and the boulevards to the rue de
Vendome.
The clerks were fluttering still in the skies of fancy to which youth
is lifted by intoxication, when their amphitryon introduced them into
Florentine's salon. There sparkled a bevy of stage princesses, who,
having been informed, no doubt, of Frederic's joke, were amusing
themselves by imitating the women of good society. They were then
engaged in eating ices. The wax-candles flamed in the candelabra.
Tullia's footmen and those of Madame du Val-Noble and Florine, all in
full livery, where serving the dainties on silver salvers. The
hangings, a marvel of Lyonnaise workmanship, fastened by gold cords,
dazzled all eyes. The flowers of the carpet were like a garden. The
richest "bibelots" and curiosities danced before the eyes of the new-
comers.
At first, and in the state to which Georges had brought them, the
clerks, and more particularly Oscar, believed in the Marquise de las
Florentinas y Cabirolos. Gold glittered on four card-tables in the
bed-chamber. In the salon, the women were playing at vingt-et-un, kept
by Nathan, the celebrated author.
After wandering, tipsy and half asleep, through the dark exterior
boulevards, the clerks now felt that they had wakened in the palace of
Armida. Oscar, presented to the marquise by Georges, was quite
stupefied,
great harm."
"Pooh!" said Georges, after listening to the explanation for which he
asked; "it was Monsieur de Serizy who behaved badly. His wife! I
wouldn't have her at any price; neither would I like to be in the
count's red skin, minister of State and peer of France as he is. He
has a small mind, and I don't care a fig for him now."
Oscar listened with true pleasure to these slurs on the count, for
they diminished, in a way, the importance of his fault; and he echoed
the spiteful language of the ex-notary, who amused himself by
predicting the blows to the nobility of which the bourgeoisie were
already dreaming,--blows which were destined to become a reality in
1830.
At half-past three the solid eating of the feast began; the dessert
did not appear till eight o'clock,--each course having taken two hours
to serve. None but clerks can eat like that! The stomachs of eighteen
and twenty are inexplicable to the medical art. The wines were worthy
of Borrel, who in those days had superseded the illustrious Balaine,
the creator of the first restaurant for delicate and perfectly
prepared food in Paris,--that is to say, the whole world.
The report of this Belshazzar's feast for the architriclino-basochien
register was duly drawn up, beginning, "Inter pocula aurea
restauranti, qui vulgo dicitur Rupes Cancali." Every one can imagine
the fine page now added to the Golden Book of jurisprudential
festivals.
Godeschal disappeared after signing the report, leaving the eleven
guests, stimulated by the old captain of the Imperial Guard, to the
wines, toasts, and liqueurs of a dessert composed of choice and early
fruits, in pyramids that rivalled the obelisk of Thebes. By half-past
ten the little sub-clerk was in such a state that Georges packed him
into a coach, paid his fare, and gave the address of his mother to the
driver. The remaining ten, all as drunk as Pitt and Dundas, talked of
going on foot along the boulevards, considering the fine evening, to
the house of the Marquise de las Florentinas y Cabirolos, where, about
midnight, they might expect to find the most brilliant society of
Paris. They felt the need of breathing the pure air into their lungs;
but, with the exception of Georges, Giroudeau, du Bruel, and Finot,
all four accustomed to Parisian orgies, not one of the party could
walk. Consequently, Georges sent to a livery-stable for three open
carriages, in which he drove his company for an hour round the
exterior boulevards from Monmartre to the Barriere du Trone. They
returned by Bercy, the quays, and the boulevards to the rue de
Vendome.
The clerks were fluttering still in the skies of fancy to which youth
is lifted by intoxication, when their amphitryon introduced them into
Florentine's salon. There sparkled a bevy of stage princesses, who,
having been informed, no doubt, of Frederic's joke, were amusing
themselves by imitating the women of good society. They were then
engaged in eating ices. The wax-candles flamed in the candelabra.
Tullia's footmen and those of Madame du Val-Noble and Florine, all in
full livery, where serving the dainties on silver salvers. The
hangings, a marvel of Lyonnaise workmanship, fastened by gold cords,
dazzled all eyes. The flowers of the carpet were like a garden. The
richest "bibelots" and curiosities danced before the eyes of the new-
comers.
At first, and in the state to which Georges had brought them, the
clerks, and more particularly Oscar, believed in the Marquise de las
Florentinas y Cabirolos. Gold glittered on four card-tables in the
bed-chamber. In the salon, the women were playing at vingt-et-un, kept
by Nathan, the celebrated author.
After wandering, tipsy and half asleep, through the dark exterior
boulevards, the clerks now felt that they had wakened in the palace of
Armida. Oscar, presented to the marquise by Georges, was quite
stupefied,