eized as it were with a childish fear of ghosts. They parted in the Rue
Tourlaque.

'Ah! that poor devil Dubuche!' said Sandoz as he pressed Claude's hand,
'he spoilt our day for us.'

As soon as November had come round, and when all the old friends were
back in Paris again, Sandoz thought of gathering them together at one
of those Thursday dinners which had remained a habit with him. They were
always his greatest delight. The sale of his books was increasing, and
he was growing rich; the flat in the Rue de Londres was becoming quite
luxurious compared with the little house at Batignolles; but he himself
remained immutable. On this occasion, he was anxious, in his good
nature, to procure real enjoyment for Claude by organising one of the
dear evenings of their youth. So he saw to the invitations; Claude and
Christine naturally must come; next Jory and his wife, the latter of
whom it had been necessary to receive since her marriage, then Dubuche,
who always came alone, with Fagerolles, Mahoudeau, and finally Gagniere.
There would be ten of them--all the men comrades of the old band,
without a single outsider, in order that the good understanding and
jollity might be complete.

Henriette, who was more mistrustful than her husband, hesitated when
this list of guests was decided upon.

'Oh! Fagerolles? You believe in having Fagerolles with the others? They
hardly like him--nor Claude either; I fancied I noticed a coolness--'

But he interrupted her, bent on not admitting it.

'What! a coolness? It's really funny, but women can't understand that
fellows chaff each other. All that doesn't prevent them from having
their hearts in the right place.'

Henriette took especial care in preparing the menu for that Thursday
dinner. She now had quite a little staff to overlook, a cook, a
man-servant, and so on; and if she no longer prepared any of the dishes
herself, she still saw that very delicate fare was provided, out of
affection for her husband, whose sole vice was gluttony. She went to
market with the cook, and called in person on the tradespeople. She
and her husband had a taste for gastronomical curiosities from the four
corners of the world. On this occasion they decided to have some ox-tail
soup, grilled mullet, undercut of beef with mushrooms, _raviolis_ in
the Italian fashion, hazel-hens from Russia, and a salad of truffles,
without counting caviare and _kilkis_ as side-dishes, a _glace
pralinee_, and a little emer