Majesty
the Empress, No. 22 Rue du Bac,--third floor above the _entresol._'
_Diable!_ we 're high up. Unfortunately, I am scarcely intimate enough
to bring a friend."

"Oh, make no excuses on that head," said I, laughing; "I really have no
desire to see Monsieur Hippolyte Pierrot's _menage_. And now, what are
your engagements for this evening? Are you for the Opera?"

"I don't well know," said he, pausing. "Madame Caulaincourt receives,
and of course expects to see our gay jackets in her _salon_ any time
before or after supper. Then there's the Comtesse de Nevers: I never go
there without meeting my tailor; the fellow's a spy of the police, and
a confectioner to boot, and he serves the ices, and reports the
conversations in the Place Vendome and that side of the Rue St.
Honore,--I couldn't take a glass of lemonade without being dunned. Then,
in the Faubourg I must go in plain clothes,--they would not let the
'livery of the Usurper' pass the porter's lodge; besides, they worry one
with their enthusiastic joy or grief,--as the last letter from England
mentions whether the Comte d'Artois has eaten too many oysters, or found
London beer too strong for him."

"From all which I guess that you are indisposed to stir."

"I believe that is about the fact. Truth is, Burke, there is only one
soiree in all Paris I 'd take the trouble to dress for this evening;
and, strange enough, it's the only house where I don't know the people.
He is a commissary-general, or a 'fournisseur' of some kind or other of
the army; always from home, they say; with a wife who was once, and a
daughter who is now, exceeding pretty; keeps a splendid house; and, like
an honest man, makes restitution of all he can cheat in the campaign by
giving good dinners in the capital. His Majesty, at the solicitation of
the Empress, I believe, made him a count,--God's mercy it was not a
king!--and as they come from Guadaloupe, or Otaheite, no one disputes
their right. Besides, this is not a time for such punctilio. This is all
I know of them, for unfortunately they settled here since I joined the
army."

"And the name?"

"Oh, a very plausible name, I assure you. Lacostellerie,--Madame la
Comtesse de Lacostellerie."

"By Jove! you remind me I have letters for her,--a circumstance I had
totally forgotten, though it was coupled with a commission."

"A letter! Why, nothing was ever so fortunate. Don't lose a moment; you
have just time to leave it, with your card,