children turned
their heads and smiled towards their parents, who were themselves
yawning behind their hands. There was thus a general feeling of relief
when the great Morizot decided to take his table away.

"Oh! he's awfully clever," whispered Malignon into Madame Deberle's
neck.

But the red curtain was drawn aside once again, and an entrancing
spectacle brought all the little folks to their feet.

Along the whole extent of the dining-room stretched the table, laid
and bedecked as for a grand dinner, and illumined by the bright
radiance of the central lamp and a pair of large candelabra. There
were fifty covers laid; in the middle and at either end were shallow
baskets, full of flowers; between these towered tall _epergnes_,
filled to overflowing with crackers in gilded and colored paper. Then
there were mountains of decorated cakes, pyramids of iced fruits,
piles of sandwiches, and, less prominent, a whole host of
symmetrically disposed plates, bearing sweetmeats and pastry: buns,
cream puffs, and _brioches_ alternating with dry biscuits, cracknals,
and fancy almond cakes. Jellies were quivering in their glass dishes.
Whipped creams waited in porcelain bowls. And round the table sparkled
the silver helmets of champagne bottles, no higher than one's hand,
made specially to suit the little guests. It all looked like one of
those gigantic feasts which children conjure up in dreamland--a feast
served with the solemnity that attends a repast of grown-up folks--a
fairy transformation of the table to which their own parents sat down,
and on which the horns of plenty of innumerable pastry-cooks and toy
dealers had been emptied.

"Come, come, give the ladies your arms!" said Madame Deberle, her face
covered with smiles as she watched the delight of the children.

But the filing off in couples proved a lure. Lucien, who had
triumphantly taken Jeanne's arm, went first. But the others following
behind fell somewhat into confusion, and the mothers were forced to
come and assign them places, remaining close at hand, especially
behind the babies, whom they watched lest any mischance should befall
them. Truth to tell, the guests at first seemed rather uncomfortable;
they looked at one another, felt afraid to lay hands on the good
things, and were vaguely disquieted by this new social organization in
which everything appeared to be topsy-turvy, the children seated at
table while their parents remained standing. At length the o