ho de la Bievre,'" said
Barbet; "why, that's the paper of the 12th arrondissement, from which
you expect to be elected; its patrons are those big tanners of the
Mouffetard quarter!"

"Well, let that go--but the 'Pelican'?"

"The 'Pelican'? that's a paper you'll find in every dentist's
waiting-room; dentists are the first _puffists_ in the world! How many
teeth do you suppose are daily pulled in Paris?"

"Come, come, nonsense," said Thuillier, who proceeded to mark out
certain names, reducing the whole number present to fourteen.

"If one falls off we shall be thirteen," remarked Barbet.

"Pooh!" said Thuillier, the free-thinker, "do you suppose I give in to
that superstition?"

The list being finally closed and settled at fourteen, Thuillier seated
himself at the publisher's desk and wrote the invitations, naming,
in view of the urgency of the purpose, the next day but one for the
meeting, Barbet having assured him that no journalist would object to
the shortness of the invitation. The meeting was appointed at Vefour's,
the restaurant par excellence of the bourgeoisie and all provincials.

Barbet arrived on the day named before Thuillier, who appeared in a
cravat which alone was enough to create a stir in the satirical circle
in which he was about to produce himself. The publisher, on his own
authority, had changed various articles on the bill of fare as selected
by his patron, more especially directing that the champagne, ordered in
true bourgeois fashion to be served with the dessert, should be placed
on the table at the beginning of breakfast, with several dishes of
shrimps, a necessity which had not occurred to the amphitryon.

Thuillier, who gave a lip-approval to these amendments, was followed
by la Peyrade; and then came a long delay in the arrival of the guests.
Breakfast was ordered at eleven o'clock; at a quarter to twelve not
a journalist had appeared. Barbet, who was never at a loss, made the
consoling remark that breakfasts at restaurants were like funerals,
where, as every one knew, eleven o'clock meant mid-day.

Sure enough, shortly before that hour, two gentlemen, with pointed
beards, exhaling a strong odor of tobacco, made their appearance.
Thuillier thanked them effusively for the "honor" they had done him;
after which came another long period of waiting, of which we shall not
relate the tortures. At one o'clock the assembled contingent comprised
five of the invited guests, Barbet and la Peyr