oss the
sea? They would be puzzled to get you the vanilla with which you have
flavored the delicious cream I am now eating. So, as Monsieur Colleville
has perceived, there is more affinity than you think between a dish and
a star; no one should be despised,--neither an astronomer nor a good
housekeeper--"

The abbe was here interrupted by the noise of a lively altercation in
the antechamber.

"I tell you that I will go in," said a loud voice.

"No, monsieur, you shall not go in," said another voice, that of the
man-servant. "The company are at table, I tell you, and nobody has the
right to force himself in."

Thuillier turned pale; ever since the seizure of his pamphlet, he
fancied all sudden arrivals meant the coming of the police.

Among the various social rules imparted to Brigitte by Madame de
Godollo, the one that most needed repeating was the injunction never, as
mistress of the house, to rise from the table until she gave the
signal for retiring. But present circumstances appeared to warrant the
infraction of the rule.

"I'll go and see what it is," she said to Thuillier, whose anxiety she
noticed at once. "What _is_ the matter?" she said to the servant as soon
as she reached the scene of action.

"Here's a gentleman who wants to come in, and says that no one is ever
dining at eight o'clock at night."

"But who are you, monsieur?" said Brigitte, addressing an old man very
oddly dressed, whose eyes were protected by a green shade.

"Madame, I am neither a beggar nor a vagabond," replied the old man, in
stentorian tones; "my name is Picot, professor of mathematics."

"Rue du Val-de-Grace?" asked Brigitte.

"Yes, madame,--No. 9, next to the print-shop."

"Come in, monsieur, come in; we shall be only too happy to receive you,"
cried Thuillier, who, on hearing the name, had hurried out to meet the
savant.

"Hein! you scamp," said the learned man, turning upon the man-servant,
who had retired, seeing that the matter was being settled amicably, "I
told you I should get in."

Pere Picot was a tall old man, with an angular, stern face, who, despite
the corrective of a blond wig with heavy curls, and that of the pacific
green shade we have already mentioned, expressed on his large features,
upon which the fury of study had produced a surface of leaden pallor, a
snappish and quarrelsome disposition. Of this he had already given proof
before entering the dining-room, where every one now rose to receive
him