e shall receive his dismissal."

"I dare say I should like the cooking in Paris better than any other,"
remarked Bertha, treacherously assailing her uncle in his vulnerable
point.

"Paris! what are you talking about? We cannot have our dinners sent from
Paris and kept warm on the road,--can we?"

"But we might go to Paris and take our dinners," she rejoined,
coaxingly.

"Bless my heart! What an idea! It is a day's journey! Think of the
trouble and discomfort of getting there!"

"Think of the new inventions of the Parisian _cuisine_; for they invent
new dishes, my Cousin Maurice has told me, as often as they originate
new fashions for dress. There are abundance of novel dishes every day
issuing from the brains of accomplished cooks,--dishes of which you have
never even heard. You really ought to taste some of them."

"That's a consideration,--positively it is. I must reflect upon it!"
replied her uncle.

"And Maurice seems to cling to the idea that my Cousin
Madeleine"--continued Bertha.

"There, there, my dear; that will do! don't touch on that unpleasant
subject, especially at dinner; it will certainly injure your digestive
organs, and give you the blues for the rest of the day. I assure you, my
child, all low spirits come from indigestion. I am convinced indigestion
is one great cause of all the sadness and sorrow, and, I dare say, of
all the sin in the world."

"It seems to me change of air must be very beneficial," replied Bertha,
recovering from the false step she had been on the point of making.

"Very wisely remarked! Change of air is beneficial, and gentle exercise
is beneficial: both stimulate the digestive faculties and keep up their
healthy action. And you really think, my dear, you would like to taste
some of those new Parisian dishes?"

"I should indeed!"

"Then you shall. I look upon it as criminal, in the present low state of
your appetite, to thwart its faintest craving. Of course we cannot
procure anything fit to sustain nature on the road to Paris, but I can
make Pierre pack up a basket of refreshments, and a bottle of old wine,
so that we shall not be poisoned on the way. If we can only make the
journey comfortably, I have no objection to investigate the gastronomic
novelties of which you have heard. I could take Lucien with us, that he
might learn some new mysteries in his art."

"To be sure you could. When shall we start, dear uncle? I am so anxious
to go! When shall we start?"

"