"The deuce you say! You could get fat by licking the walls."
"And I was rowing on a river where the water was boiling and bubbling like a soup-kettle."
"Hold your tongue, you magpie!--At last I saw a palace on the other side of the river, come up out of the ground the way they do at the Funambules; the roof was made of diamonds, the walls of gold, the windows of silver and the door of rubies."
"The devil! that must 'a' made your gingerbread houses look mean."
"When I sees that, I tells my boatman--and a fine young man he was--I tells him to take me to the palace; and would you believe that he asks me to let him make a fool of me as pay for my passage. I said no, sharp, but he didn't listen to me; he just threw me into the bottom of his boat--and the rascal overpowered me, my dears!"
"Well! so that's your fine dream! All that just to come to the climax! It was your man, of course; while you was asleep, he----"
"Oh, yes, indeed! Why, not since Saint-Fiacre's Eve, six months ago----"
"Why, once he made me swallow truffles for the King of Prussia, and since then, when he comes to me--not if I know it!"
"Well, you're wrong; yes, you're wrong! refuse and you're left to muse. He'll just take your property somewhere else. Don't be a fool; once those dogs have found another kennel, there's no way to bring 'em back; it's all over!"
"I believe you're right, Bérénice; I'll rub a sponge over it next Sunday."
"You're very good, mesdames," said a cook, stuffing into her basket the fowl she had just bought, which, from its odor, might have been taken for game, "you're very good, but my master's waiting for his chocolate; he wants to go out early and I ain't lighted my fire yet.--Quick, madame, my regular number; here's thirty-six sous--please hurry up."
The cook took her ticket and returned to her master, making figures on the way: the fowl had cost her fifty sous; by calling it eighty-six sous, she would get her ticket for nothing, which was very pleasant. To be sure, her master would eat a tainted fowl instead of a delicate bird; but one must have one's little perquisites, and what was the use of being a cordon bleu if one did not make something out of the marketing?
"The _considérés_ are very old combinations," said a little man who had been gazing at the list for three-quarters of an hour; "they're excellent to play by extracts."