and three years before the startling success
of his work, he had altogether ceased to go there, though he was still a
member, and remained so nominally until '47, when his name was removed
from the list in accordance with Rule 5. Owing to momentary pecuniary
embarrassments, he had failed to pay his subscription. It may safely be
asserted that this was merely a pretext to get rid of him, because such
stringent measures are rarely resorted to at any decent club, whether in
London or Paris, and least of all at the Jockey Clubs there. The fact
was, that the members did not care for a fellow-member whose taste
differed so materially from their own, whose daily avocations and
pursuits had nothing in common with theirs; for though Eugene Sue as
early as 1835 had possessed a race-horse, named Mameluke, which managed
to come in a capital last at Maisons-sur-Seine (afterwards
Maisons-Lafitte); though he had ridden his _haque_ every day in the
Bois, and driven his cabriolet every afternoon in the Champs-Elysees,
the merest observer could easily perceive that all this was done for
mere show, to use the French expression, "pose." As one of the members
observed, "M. Sue est toujours trop habille, trop carosse, et surtout
trop eperonne."

M. Sue was all that, and though the Jockey Club at that time was by no
means the unobtrusive body of men it is to-day, its excesses and
eccentricities were rarely indulged in public, except perhaps in
carnival time. A M. de Chateau-Villard might take it into his head to
play a game of billiards on horseback, or M. de Machado might live
surrounded by a couple of hundred parrots if he liked; none of these
fancies attracted the public's notice: M. Sue, by his very profession,
attracted too much of it, and brought a great deal of it into the club
itself; hence, when he raised a violent protest against his expulsion
and endeavoured to neutralize it by sending in his resignation, the
committee maintained its original decision. A few years after this,
Eugene Sue disappeared from the Paris horizon.

CHAPTER III.

Alexandre Dumas pere -- Why he made himself particularly
agreeable to Englishmen -- His way of silencing people -- The
pursuit he loved best next to literature -- He has the privilege
of going down to the kitchens of the Cafe de Paris -- No one
questions his literary genius, some question his culinary
capacities -- Dr. Veron and his cordon-bleu -- Dr. Veron's