ceremony of fashionable etiquette. Here to-day,
gone to-morrow--is the motto of Marseilles! _Hola!_ _Messieurs_, shall
we not make the most of new acquaintances when they may be so brief?"

I thanked him for his hospitality. I had so little to lose in this
world, either of property or friends, that I feared the cholera quite
as slightly as any of the company. "A thousand thanks," said I,
"Monsieur, for your politeness; I'll bury you to-morrow, if it is the
cholera's pleasure, with ten times more pleasure now that I have had
the honor of an introduction. A fashionable man hardly cares to be
civil to a stranger--even if he happens to be a corpse!"

There was so hearty a cheer at this sally, that, in spite of the
shallow soundings of my purse, I called for a fresh bottle, and
pledged the party in a bumper all round.

"And now," continued my neighbor, "as it may be necessary for some one
of us to write your epitaph in a day or two, or, at least, to send a
message of condolence and sympathy to your friends; pray let us know a
bit of your history, and what the devil brings you to Marseilles when
the cholera thermometer is up to 1000 degrees per diem?"

Very few words were necessary to impart such a name and tale as I
chose to invent for the company's edification. "Santiago Ximenes," and
my tawny skin betokened my nationality and profession, while my
threadbare garments spoke louder than words that I was at suit with
Fortune.

Presently, after a lull in the chat, a dapper little prig of a dandy,
who sat on my left, volunteered to inform me that he was no less a
personage than _le Docteur_ Du Jean, a medical practitioner fresh from
Metropolitan hospitals, who, in a spirit of the loftiest philanthropy,
visited this provincial town at his own expense to succor the poor.

"_C'est une belle dame, notre vis a vis, n'est elle pas mon cher?_"
said he pointing to our patron saint opposite.

I admitted without argument that she was the most charming woman I
ever saw out of Cuba.

"_C'est ma chere amie_," whispered he confidentially in my ear,
strongly emphasizing the word "friend" and nodding very knowingly
towards the lady herself. "At the present moment the dear little
creature is exclusively under my charge and protection, for she is _en
route_ to join her husband, a captain in the army at Algiers; but,
alas! _grace a Dieu_, there's no chance of a transport so long as this
cursed pestilence blockades Marseilles! Do you know