for yourselves, I am by no means a giant, and Dumas is
one. I pointed this out to him, but he did not even answer me. He had
caught sight of three or four pair of boots under the dressing-table,
and, in the twinkling of an eye, chose the best pair and pulled them on,
leaving me his old ones, absolutely worn out, but which I have preserved
in my library at home. I always show them to my visitors as the thousand
and first volume of Alexandre Dumas.[8]

[Footnote 8: Alexandre Dumas had a marvellously small
foot.--EDITOR.]

"By the time he got the boots on we were friends, as if we had known one
another for years; as for Dumas, he was 'theeing' and 'thouing' me as if
we had been at school together.

"'You are going to Joigny?' I said; 'I know a good many people there.'

"'All the better, for I am going to take you along with me.'

"Having to go no further than Joigny, and being taken thither in the
conveyance of my newly-made friend, I did not think it necessary to
provide myself with an extra supply of funds, the more that I had
between five and six hundred francs in my pocket. In a short time we
were on our road, and the first stage of three hours seemed to me as
many minutes. Whenever we passed a country seat, out came a lot of
anecdotes and legends connected with its owners, interlarded with quaint
fancies and epigrams. At that first change of horses Dumas' secretary
paid. At the second, Villevailles, Dumas says, 'Have you got twenty
francs change?' Without a moment's hesitation, I took out my purse, paid
the money, and put down in my pocket-book, 'Alexandre Dumas, twenty
francs.' I might have saved myself the trouble, as I found out in a very
short time, for the moment he got out at Joigny, he rushed off in a
hurry without troubling about anything. The postilion turned to me for
his money, and I paid, and put down once more, 'Alexandre Dumas, thirty
francs.'

"The first meeting was fixed for four, at the theatre. They applied to
me for the hire of the building, for the gas. I went on paying, but I no
longer put down the items, saying to myself, 'When my six hundred francs
are gone, my little excursion will be at an end, and I'll go back to
Sens.' The little excursion did not extend to more than one day, seeing
that I had to settle the dinner bill at the Duc de Bourgogne, Dumas
having invited every one he met on his way. I am only sorry for one
thing, that I did not have ten thousand francs in my