back in five minutes. If anyone arrives in
my absence, do the honors for me, will you not?"

And he carried off Mathilde, who kept drying her eyes with her
handkerchief as she went along.

Left to himself, M. Saval succeeded in putting everything around him in
order. Then he lighted the wax-candles, and waited.

He waited for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour. Romantin did
not return. Then, suddenly there was a dreadful noise on the stairs, a
song shouted out in chorus by twenty mouths and a regular march like that
of a Prussian regiment. The whole house was shaken by the steady tramp of
feet. The door flew open, and a motley throng appeared--men and
women in file, two and two holding each other by the arm and stamping
their heels on the ground to mark time, advanced into the studio like a
snake uncoiling itself. They howled:

"Come, and let us all be merry,
Pretty maids and soldiers gay!"

M. Saval, thunderstruck, remained standing in evening dress under the
chandelier. The procession of revellers caught sight of him, and uttered
a shout:

"A Jeames! A Jeames!"

And they began whirling round him, surrounding him with a circle of
vociferations. Then they took each other by the hand and went dancing
about madly.

He attempted to explain:

"Messieurs--messieurs--mesdames----"

But they did not listen to him. They whirled about, they jumped, they
brawled.

At last, the dancing ceased. M. Saval said:

"Gentlemen----"

A tall young fellow, fair-haired and bearded to the nose, interrupted
him:

"What's your name, my friend?"

The notary, quite scared, said:

"I am M. Saval."

A voice exclaimed:

"You mean Baptiste."

A woman said:

"Let the poor waiter alone! You'll end by making him get angry. He's paid
to wait on us, and not to be laughed at by us."

Then, M. Saval noticed that each guest had brought his own provisions.
One held a bottle of wine, and the other a pie. This one had a loaf of
bread, and one a ham.

The tall, fair young fellow placed in his hands an enormous sausage, and
gave orders:

"Here, go and arrange the sideboard in the corner over there. Put the
bottles at the left and the provisions at the right."

Saval, getting quite distracted, exclaimed: "But, messieurs, I am a
notary!"

There was a moment's silence and then a wild outburst of laughter. One
suspicious gentleman asked:

"How came you to be here?"

He explained, telling about his project o