r I had
made his acquaintance, he was ill at Saint-Germain, and I went to see
him. His dog had bitten him severely in the right hand; he was in bed,
and obliged to dictate. His son had just left him, and he told me,
adding, "C'est un coeur d'or, cet Alexandre." Seeing that I did not ask
what had elicited the praise, he began telling me.

"This morning I received six hundred and fifty francs. Just now
Alexandre was going up to Paris, and he says, 'I'll take fifty francs.'

"I did not pay attention, or must have misunderstood; at any rate I
replied, 'Don't take as much as that; leave me a hundred francs.'

"'What do you mean, father?' he asked. 'I am telling you that I am going
to take fifty francs.'

"'I beg your pardon,' I said. 'I understood you were going to take six
hundred.'"

He would have considered it the most natural thing in the world for his
son to take six hundred and leave him fifty; just as he considered it
the most natural thing to bare his arm and to have a dozen leeches put
on it, because his son, when a boy of eight, having met with an
accident, would not consent to blood-letting of that kind. In vain did
the father tell him that the leeches did not hurt. "Well, put some on
yourself, and then I will." And the giant turned up his sleeves, and did
as he was told.

CHAPTER IV.

Dr. Louis Veron -- The real man as distinguished from that of his
own "Memoirs" -- He takes the management of the Paris Opera --
How it was governed before his advent -- Meyerbeer's "Robert le
Diable" _underlined_ -- Meyerbeer and his doubts upon the merits
of his work -- Meyerbeer's generosity -- Meyerbeer and the
beggars of the Rue Le Peletier -- Dr. Veron, the inventor of the
modern newspaper puff -- Some specimens of advertisements in
their infancy -- Dr. Veron takes a leaf from the book of Moliere
-- Dr. Veron's love of money -- His superstitions -- His
objections to travelling in railways -- He quotes the Queen of
England as an example -- When Queen Victoria overcomes her
objection, Veron holds out -- "Queen Victoria has got a
successor: the Veron dynasty begins and ends with me" -- Thirteen
at table -- I make the acquaintance of Taglioni -- The woman and
the ballerina -- Her adventure at Perth -- An improvised
performance of "Nathalie, la Laitiere Suisse" -- Another
adventure in Russia -- A modern Claude Du-Val -- My last meeti