-chamber;
and a mute intimation from his wife, Thuillier, and la Peyrade
to _behave himself_ put a stopper on his liveliness and turbulent
expansion. It was somewhat remarkable that the gravest member of the
party, aided by Rabourdin, was the person who finally warmed up the
atmosphere. The Abbe Gondrin, a man of a most refined and cultivated
mind, had, like every pure and well-ordered soul, a fund of gentle
gaiety which he was well able to communicate, and liveliness was
beginning to dawn upon the party when Minard entered the room.

After making his excuses on the ground of important duties, the mayor of
the eleventh arrondissement, who was in the habit of taking the lead in
the conversation wherever he went, said, having swallowed a few hasty
mouthfuls:--

"Messieurs and mesdames, have you heard the great news?"

"No, what is it?" cried several voices at once.

"The Academy of Sciences received, to-day, at its afternoon session, the
announcement of a vast discovery: the heavens possess a new star!"

"Tiens!" said Colleville; "that will help to replace the one that
Beranger thought was lost when he grieved (to that air of 'Octavie')
over Chateaubriand's departure: 'Chateaubriand, why fly thy land?'"

This quotation, which he sang, exasperated Flavie, and if the custom had
been for wives to sit next to their husbands, the former clarionet
of the Opera-Comique would not have escaped with a mere "Colleville!"
imperiously calling him to order.

"The point which gives this great astronomical event a special interest
on this occasion," continued Minard, "is that the author of the
discovery is a denizen of the twelfth arrondissement, which many of you
still inhabit, or have inhabited. But other points are striking in this
great scientific fact. The Academy, on the reading of the communication
which announced it, was so convinced of the existence of this star that
a deputation was appointed to visit the domicile of the modern Galileo
and compliment him in the name of the whole body. And yet this star is
not visible to either the eye or the telescope! It is only by the
power of calculation and induction that its existence and the place it
occupies in the heavens have been proved in the most irrefutable manner:
'There _must_ be _there_ a hitherto unknown star; I cannot see it, but
I am sure of it,'--that is what this man of science said to the
Academy, whom he instantly convinced by his deductions. And do you know,
mess