with a spoon stuck in the midst of the thick
sauce--a good yellow sauce which quivered like a jelly. They fished
pieces of veal out of it and seemed as though they would never come to
the end; the salad-bowl journeyed from hand to hand and faces bent over
it as forks picked out the mushrooms. The long loaves standing against
the wall behind the guests appeared to melt away. Between the mouthfuls
one could hear the sound of glasses being replaced on the table. The
sauce was a trifle too salty. It required four bottles of wine to
drown that blessed stewed veal, which went down like cream, but which
afterwards lit up a regular conflagration in one's stomach. And before
one had time to take a breath, the pig's back, in the middle of a deep
dish surrounded by big round potatoes, arrived in the midst of a cloud
of smoke. There was one general cry. By Jove! It was just the thing!
Everyone liked it. They would do it justice; and they followed the dish
with a side glance as they wiped their knives on their bread so as to be
in readiness. Then as soon as they were helped they nudged one another
and spoke with their mouths full. It was just like butter! Something
sweet and solid which one could feel run through one's guts right down
into one's boots. The potatoes were like sugar. It was not a bit salty;
only, just on account of the potatoes, it required a wetting every few
minutes. Four more bottles were placed on the table. The plates were
wiped so clean that they also served for the green peas and bacon. Oh!
vegetables were of no consequence. They playfully gulped them down in
spoonfuls. The best part of the dish was the small pieces of bacon
just nicely grilled and smelling like horse's hoof. Two bottles were
sufficient for them.

"Mamma! Mamma!" called out Nana suddenly, "Augustine's putting her
fingers in my plate!"

"Don't bother me! give her a slap!" replied Gervaise, in the act of
stuffing herself with green peas.

At the children's table in the back-room, Nana was playing the role
of lady of the house, sitting next to Victor and putting her brother
Etienne beside Pauline so they could play house, pretending they were
two married couples. Nana had served her guests very politely at first,
but now she had given way to her passion for grilled bacon, trying to
keep every piece for herself. While Augustine was prowling around the
children's table, she would grab the bits of bacon under the pretext
of dividing them amongst t