or, M.
Milaud, and all the authorities, have just gone in!"

The bank struck up as they sat down to table with variations on the air
_Vive le roy, vive la France_, a melody which has never found popular
favor. It was then five o'clock in the evening; it was eight o'clock
before dessert was served. Conspicuous among the sixty-five dishes
appeared an Olympus in confectionery, surmounted by a figure of France
modeled in chocolate, to give the signal for toasts and speeches.

"Gentlemen," called the prefect, rising to his feet, "the King! the
rightful ruler of France! To what do we owe the generation of poets and
thinkers who maintain the sceptre of letters in the hands of France, if
not to the peace which the Bourbons have restored----"

"Long live the King!" cried the assembled guests (ministerialists
predominated).

The venerable headmaster rose.

"To the hero of the day," he said, "to the young poet who combines the
gift of the _prosateur_ with the charm and poetic faculty of Petrarch in
that sonnet-form which Boileau declares to be so difficult."

Cheers.

The colonel rose next. "Gentlemen, to the Royalist! for the hero of this
evening had the courage to fight for sound principles!"

"Bravo!" cried the prefect, leading the applause.

Then Petit-Claud called upon all Lucien's schoolfellows there present.
"To the pride of the grammar-school of Angouleme! to the venerable
headmaster so dear to us all, to whom the acknowledgment for some part
of our triumph is due!"

The old headmaster dried his eyes; he had not expected this toast.
Lucien rose to his feet, the whole room was suddenly silent, and the
poet's face grew white. In that pause the old headmaster, who sat on his
left, crowned him with a laurel wreath. A round of applause followed,
and when Lucien spoke it was with tears in his eyes and a sob in his
throat.

"He is drunk," remarked the attorney-general-designate to his neighbor,
Petit-Claud.

"My dear fellow-countrymen, my dear comrades," Lucien said at last, "I
could wish that all France might witness this scene; for thus men rise
to their full stature, and in such ways as these our land demands great
deeds and noble work of us. And when I think of the little that I
have done, and of this great honor shown to me to-day, I can only
feel confused and impose upon the future the task of justifying your
reception of me. The recollection of this moment will give me renewed
strength for efforts to come.