They rose from their seats and made languidly for the Boulevard des Italiens, Gaillard pausing at several toy shops to look in and admire the wares. In the Avenue de l’Opéra, at Brentano’s window, a little volume of poems by Verlaine called to him to buy it, and as he had no money Toto bought it for him. He carried the book tight clasped to his chest as they wandered along to the Maison Dorée, where they entered and dined.
Two hours later they came out, each smoking a big cigar; Gaillard’s held delicately between finger and thumb and whiffed at occasionally, Toto’s stuck in the corner of his mouth.
“Let us to the Moulin Rouge,” said Gaillard. “I have dined; I want to laugh.”
The poet had quite forgotten Fanfoullard, the attic, the Henri Quatre stove, and all the rest of it.
“Oh, he will wait; Fanfoullard is eternal, like a tortoise. A hundred years hence you will find him painting his fans and crawling out at dark to sell them.”
“But I don’t want him in a hundred years; I want him now, to arrange about that room.”
Gaillard groaned. He thought his companion had forgotten all that, which showed that he only knew Toto by his surface.
“You will not find Fanfoullard interesting.”
“Don’t want to; but he will find me interesting, for I will pay him to see about the place and have it cleaned up.”
“But Fanfoullard——” said the poet, stopping to scratch his head, for there was no Fanfoullard; he was a mythical creature that had escaped through one of the cracks in Gaillard’s skull; he had never lived in the Rue de Perpignan, nor journeyed forth to sell fans in the dark with his eyes shut for fear of the frightful people one sees in omnibuses. It seemed almost a pity. “But Fanfoullard——” said his creator. “Ah, well; yes, let us go to my rooms and see if he has arrived.”
They made for the Rue de Turbigo, for Gaillard condescended to live in the Rue de Turbigo. Here he kept his Muse, or, to speak more correctly, she kept him, assisted by Toto, Pelisson, Struve, De Brie the editor, and a host of others.
“Tell me about this Fanfoullard,” asked Toto. “Is he a respectable sort of person?”
“Oh, eminently. My dear Toto, why walk so fast? I shall have indigestion.”
“He doesn’t practice on the violin or come in drunk, does he?”