ille once told me that Dumas, having taken a house at
Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, his second month's bill for meat alone amounted
to eleven hundred francs. Let it be remembered that his household
consisted of himself, two secretaries, and three servants, and that
money went a great deal further than it does at present, especially in
provincial France, in some parts of which living is still very cheap. In
consequence of one of those financial crises, which were absolutely
periodical with Alexandre Dumas, M. de Cherville had prevailed upon him
to leave Paris for a while, and to take up his quarters with him. All
went comparatively well as long as he was M. de Cherville's guest; but,
having taken a liking to the neighbourhood, he rented a house of his
own, and furnished it from garret to cellar in the most expensive way,
as if he were going to spend the remainder of his life in it. Exclusive
of the furniture, he spent between fifteen thousand and eighteen
thousand francs on hangings, painting, and repairs. The parasites and
harpies which M. de Cherville had kept at bay came down upon him like a
swarm of locusts. "And how long, think you, did Dumas stay in his new
domicile? Three months, not a day more nor less. As a matter of course,
the furniture did not fetch a quarter of its cost; the repairs, the
decorating, etc., were so much sheer waste: for the incoming tenant
refused to refund a cent for it, and Dumas, having made up his mind to
go to Italy, would not wait for a more liberal or conscientious one,
lest he should have the rent of the empty house on his shoulders also.
Luckily, I took care that he should pocket the proceeds of the sale of
the furniture."

This last sentence wants explaining. As a rule, when a man sells his
sticks, he pockets the money. But the instance just mentioned was the
only one in which Dumas had the disposal of his household goods. The
presiding divinity invariably carried them away with her when she had to
make room for a successor, and these successions generally occurred
once, sometimes twice, a year. "La reine est morte, vive la reine." The
new sovereign, for the first few days of her reign, had to be content
with bare walls and very few material comforts; then the nest was
upholstered afresh, and "il n'y avait rien de change en la demeure, sauf
le nom de la maitresse."

Consequently, though for forty years Alexandre Dumas could not have
earned less than eight thousand pounds per annum; though