m as you walk. Oh! you
just wait a bit, and I'll take a twist on that little fellow."

I understood that he was talking about M. de Gery, the Nabob's young
secretary, who often comes to the _Territoriale_, where he does
nothing but rummage among the books. Very polite certainly, but a very
proud youngster who does not know how to make the most of himself.
There was nothing but a chorus of maledictions against him around the
table. Even M. Louis delivered himself on that subject, with his high
and mighty air:

"Our cook, my dear Monsieur Barreau, has recently had an experience
similar to yours with His Excellency's chief secretary, who presumed to
indulge in some observations concerning the household expenses. The
cook ran up to the duke's study post-haste, in his professional
costume, and said, with his hand on his apron string: 'Your Excellency
may choose between Monsieur and me.' The duke did not hesitate. One can
find as many secretaries as one wants; whereas the good cooks are all
known. There are just four in Paris. I include you, my dear Barreau. We
dismissed our chief secretary, giving him a prefecture of the first
class as a consolation; but we kept our chief cook."

"Ah! that's the talk," said M. Barreau, who was delighted to hear that
anecdote. "That's what it is to be in a great nobleman's service. But
parvenus are parvenus, what do you expect?"

"And Jansoulet is nothing more than that," added M. Francis, pulling
down his cuffs. "A man who was once a porter at Marseille."

At that M. Noel bristled up.

"I say there, old Francis, you're glad enough to have the porter of La
Cannebiere pay for your roastings at _bouillotte_ all the same. You
won't find many parvenus like us, who loan millions to kings, and whom
great noblemen like Mora don't blush to receive at their table."

"Oh! in the country," sneered M. Francis, showing his old fangs.

The other rose, red as fire, on the point of losing his temper, but
M. Louis made a sign with his hand that he had something to say, and
M. Noel at once sat down, putting his hand to his ear, like the rest
of us, in order to lose none of the august words.

"It is true," said the great personage, speaking with the ends of
his lips and sipping his wine slowly; "it is true that we received
the Nabob at Grandbois some weeks ago. Indeed, a very amusing
thing happened there. We have a great many mushrooms in the
second park, and His Excellency sometimes amuses himself by