The Flower Girl of The Chateau d'Eau Volume Ii Part 13

"Only on the knees."

"Bah! that isn't amusing enough!"

"There was also a young flower girl--a very pretty girl, on my word!"

"I know her," said Saint-Arthur; "she supplies me; it's Violette."

"What does she supply you with, you big monster?" cried Zizi, raising her fork to her lover, as if to stab him.

"Mon Dieu! it's simple enough, my angel; a flower girl supplies me with flowers, naturally."

"Hum! you would be quite capable of going to her for other supplies."

"O Zizi! for heaven's sake, don't be jealous like this. Besides, this flower girl is one of Jericourt's conquests; one of his victims."

"I don't deny it, I committed that sin; and monsieur here will bear me out in saying that the little one is worth the trouble."

"I will bear you out in saying that the little one is pretty, monsieur, but that's all; for, on the day that I saw you in her company, you did not have the air of having made a conquest of her!"

"This old fellow is decidedly antipathetic to me!" said Jericourt to himself.

x.x.x

MANY WAYS OF DRINKING CHAMPAGNE

"Come, Alfred! some champagne--right away! I want some champagne--and I want it frappe."

"Here it is, my siren; it's behind us, cooking in the ice.--Ah! now is the time when Monsieur de Roncherolle is going to teach us a lot of pretty things.--Jericourt, monsieur knows thirty-three ways of drinking a gla.s.s of champagne!"

"Monsieur is quite capable of it."

"For my experiments," said Roncherolle, "I must have cups, not goblets."

"Here are some; I ordered two kinds of gla.s.ses."

"I fill my gla.s.s--this is the first way; attention!"

Roncherolle coolly emptied his gla.s.s and said:

"First of all, there's that way--to drink as everybody else does."

"Oh! I know that."

"It's lucky that you know one," said Zizi; "otherwise it might be thought that you had to be driven to water."

"Let us go on to the second way."

"You will allow me to eat a little sweetbread first?"

"That is only fair."

"Otherwise," sneered Jericourt, "one might think that you invited monsieur to dinner for the sole purpose of learning to drink."

"And if that were so," rejoined Roncherolle, "I should not bear my neighbor a grudge; that would prove that I am still good for something, and one so often entertains people who are good for nothing!"

"The second way, my dear fellow, the second way!" said Zizi, with a playful tap on Roncherolle's cheek.

"At your service, _belle dame_.--Look--this gla.s.s is full; I put it on this plate, and the point is to drain it without touching it with the hands or spilling a drop."

"Oh! that must be extremely difficult--I will go farther and say that it seems to me impossible," said Saint-Arthur.

"Not at all--look."

Roncherolle took the plate on which the gla.s.s stood, lifted it, put the gla.s.s to his lips, then tipped it toward his mouth, still holding it steady with the plate, and swallowed all it contained.

"Ah! charming, delightful!" cried Alfred.

"I have seen that done before, but I had forgotten it," said Zizi; "wait; I believe that I can do it."

The young actress did exactly as Roncherolle had done, and succeeded perfectly.

"It's your turn, Jericourt."

"Do that! why that's the a.s.s's bridge!" replied the man of letters, with a shrug.

"Well, do it then."

"No, I didn't come to dinner to play tricks."

"That's a pity," said Roncherolle, "for I am sure that monsieur must know some that we do not."

"In that case," said Saint-Arthur, filling a gla.s.s to the brim with champagne and putting it on a plate, "it's my turn; now that I have seen the thing done twice, I don't see why I shouldn't do it too; I am no more of a fool than other people."

"That's too bad, my dear; if you were, it would be a way of attracting attention!"

"Hush, Zizi! don't say nasty things, but watch; I am going to begin."

The pretty youth succeeded in raising the gla.s.s to his lips, but just as he was about to drink, he lifted the plate too high, and all the contents of the gla.s.s fell on his s.h.i.+rt and his cravat. Alfred cried aloud in dismay, while his three guests roared with laughter, that incident having restored Jericourt's good humor.

"_Sapristi!_ I am done for. I was on the edge of success, for I certainly should have drunk it all without spilling a drop."

"But you didn't spill a drop," said Roncherolle; "the whole business went."

"I am wet through, my s.h.i.+rt is drenched and my cravat; what shall I do?