paying his court, as
a cuttlefish bone, a burlesque absurdity which amused readers who knew
neither of the personages. A tale of the loves of the Heron, who tried
in vain to swallow the Cuttlefish bone, which broke into three pieces
when he dropped it, was irresistibly ludicrous. Everybody remembers the
sensation which the pleasantry made in the Faubourg Saint-Germain;
it was the first of a series of similar articles, and was one of the
thousand and one causes which provoked the rigorous press legislation of
Charles X.

An hour later, Blondet, Lousteau, and Lucien came back to the
drawing-room, where the other guests were chatting. The Duke was there
and the Minister, the four women, the three merchants, the manager, and
Finot. A printer's devil, with a paper cap on his head, was waiting even
then for copy.

"The men are just going off, if I have nothing to take them," he said.

"Stay a bit, here are ten francs, and tell them to wait," said Finot.

"If I give them the money, sir, they would take to tippleography, and
good-night to the newspaper."

"That boy's common-sense is appalling to me," remarked Finot; and the
Minister was in the middle of a prediction of a brilliant future for the
urchin, when the three came in. Blondet read aloud an extremely clever
article against the Romantics; Lousteau's paragraph drew laughter, and
by the Duc de Rhetore's advice an indirect eulogium of Mme. d'Espard was
slipped in, lest the whole Faubourg Saint-Germain should take offence.

"What have _you_ written?" asked Finot, turning to Lucien.

And Lucien read, quaking for fear, but the room rang with applause when
he finished; the actresses embraced the neophyte; and the two merchants,
following suit, half choked the breath out of him. There were tears in
du Bruel's eyes as he grasped his critic's hand, and the manager invited
him to dinner.

"There are no children nowadays," said Blondet. "Since M. de
Chateaubriand called Victor Hugo a 'sublime child,' I can only tell
you quite simply that you have spirit and taste, and write like a
gentleman."

"He is on the newspaper," said Finot, as he thanked Etienne, and gave
him a shrewd glance.

"What jokes have you made?" inquired Lousteau, turning to Blondet and du
Bruel.

"Here are du Bruel's," said Nathan.

*** "Now, that M. le Vicomte d'A---- is attracting so much
attention, they will perhaps let _me_ alone," M. le Vicomte
Demosthenes was heard to say yesterday.