rd.

An old poet jocosely slapped the neophyte on the shoulder.

"Bravo, young man!" he whispered in his ear.

The others gazed at him with curiosity. Even the husband appeared to
be surprised. As for the young man, he was astonished at the
consideration which they suddenly seemed to show towards him; above
all, he failed to comprehend the marked attentions, the manifest
favor, and the species of mute gratitude which the mistress of the
house bestowed on him.

It appears, however, that he eventually found out.

At what moment, in what place, was the revelation made to him? Nobody
could tell; but, when he again presented himself at the reception, he
had a preoccupied air, almost a shamefaced look, and he cast around
him a glance of uneasiness.

The bell rang for tea. The man-servant appeared. Madame Anserre, with
a smile, seized the dish, casting a look about her for her young
friend; but he had fled so precipitately that no trace of him could be
seen any longer. Then, she went looking everywhere for him, and ere
long she discovered him in the Salon of the Agriculturists. With his
arm locked in that of the husband, he was consulting that gentleman as
to the means employed for destroying phylloxera.

"My dear Monsieur," she said to him, "will you be so kind as to cut
this cake for me?"

He reddened to the roots of his hair, and hanging down his head,
stammered out some excuses. Thereupon M. Anserre took pity on him, and
turning towards his wife, said:

"My dear, you might have the goodness not to disturb us. We are
talking about agriculture. So get your cake cut by Baptiste."

And since that day nobody has ever cut Madame Anserre's cake.

A LIVELY FRIEND

They had been constantly in each other's society for a whole winter in
Paris. After having lost sight of each other, as generally happens in
such cases, after leaving college, the two friends met again one
night, long years after, already old and white-haired, the one a
bachelor, the other married.

M. de Meroul lived six months in Paris and six months in his little
chateau of Tourbeville. Having married the daughter of a gentleman in
the district, he had lived a peaceful, happy life with the indolence
of a man who has nothing to do. With a calm temperament and a sedate
mind, without any intellectual audacity or tendency towards
revolutionary independence of thought, he passed his time in mildly
regretting the past, in deploring the morals and th