?"

"What?"

"Why that he is a writer, and scribbles pamphlets on religion."

"Yes, it is true. I have often seen him at my employer's, with whom he
deals; a bad paymaster, but a jolly fellow!"

"And pretends to be devout, eh?"

"I believe you, my boy--when it is necessary; then he is my Lord
Dumoulin, as large as life. He rolls his eyes, walks with his head on one
side, and his toes turned in; but, when the piece is played out, he slips
away to the balls of which he is so fond. The girls christened him Ninny
Moulin. Add, that he drinks like a fish, and you have the photo of the
cove. All this doesn't prevent his writing for the religious newspapers;
and the saints, whom he lets in even oftener than himself, are ready to
swear by him. You should see his articles and his tracts--only see, not
read!--every page is full of the devil and his horns, and the desperate
fryings which await your impious revolutionists--and then the authority
of the bishops, the power of the Pope--hang it! how could I know it all?
This toper, Ninny Moulin, gives good measure enough for their money!"

"The fact is, that he is both a heavy drinker and a heavy swell. How he
rattled on with little Rose-Pompon in the dance and the full-blown
tulip!"

"And what a rum chap he looked in his Roman helmet and top-boots."

"Rose-Pompon dances divinely, too; she has the poetic twist."

"And don't show her heels a bit!"

"Yes; but the Bacchanal Queen is six thousand feet above the level of any
common leg-shaker. I always come back to her step last night in the
full-blown tulip."

"It was huge!"

"It was serene!"

"If I were father of a family, I would entrust her with the education of
my sons!"

"It was that step, however, which offended the bobby's modesty."

"The fact is, it was a little free."

"Free as air--so the policeman comes up to her, and says: 'Well, my
Queen, is your foot to keep on a-goin' up forever?' 'No, modest warrior!'
replies the Queen; 'I practice the step only once every evening, to be
able to dance it when I am old. I made a vow of it, that you might become
an inspector.'"

"What a comic card!"

"I don't believe she will remain always with Sleepinbuff."

"Because he has been a workman?"

"What nonsense! it would preciously become us, students and shop-boys, to
give ourselves airs! No; but I am astonished at the Queen's fidelity."

"Yes--they've been a team for three or four good months."

"She's wild upon him