ng opposite
to them Rose-Pompon and Ninny Moulin!"

"And all four making tulips as full-blown as could be!"

"By-the-bye, is it true what they say of Ninny Moulin?"

"What?"

"Why that he is a writer, and scribbles pamphlets on religion."

"Yes, it is true. I have often seen him at my employer's, with whom he
deals; a bad paymaster, but a jolly fellow!"

"And pretends to be devout, eh?"

"I believe you, my boy--when it is necessary; then he is my Lord
Dumoulin, as large as life. He rolls his eyes, walks with his head on
one side, and his toes turned in; but, when the piece is played out, he
slips away to the balls of which he is so fond. The girls christened him
Ninny Moulin. Add, that he drinks like a fish, and you have the photo
of the cove. All this doesn't prevent his writing for the religious
newspapers; and the saints, whom he lets in even oftener than himself,
are ready to swear by him. You should see his articles and his
tracts--only see, not read!--every page is full of the devil and
his horns, and the desperate fryings which await your impious
revolutionists--and then the authority of the bishops, the power of the
Pope--hang it! how could I know it all? This toper, Ninny Moulin, gives
good measure enough for their money!"

"The fact is, that he is both a heavy drinker and a heavy swell. How
he rattled on with little Rose-Pompon in the dance and the full-blown
tulip!"

"And what a rum chap he looked in his Roman helmet and top-boots."

"Rose-Pompon dances divinely, too; she has the poetic twist."

"And don't show her heels a bit!"

"Yes; but the Bacchanal Queen is six thousand feet above the level of
any common leg-shaker. I always come back to her step last night in the
full-blown tulip."

"It was huge!"

"It was serene!"

"If I were father of a family, I would entrust her with the education of
my sons!"

"It was that step, however, which offended the bobby's modesty."

"The fact is, it was a little free."

"Free as air--so the policeman comes up to her, and says: 'Well,
my Queen, is your foot to keep on a-goin' up forever?' 'No, modest
warrior!' replies the Queen; 'I practice the step only once every
evening, to be able to dance it when I am old. I made a vow of it, that
you might become an inspector.'"

"What a comic card!"

"I don't believe she will remain always with Sleepinbuff."

"Because he has been a workman?"

"What nonsense! it would preciously become us, students and sh