er own tint--and confectioned with the most fragrant cream and almonds.
I then offered up at her shrine a filet de merlan a l'gnes, and a
delicate plat which I designated as Eperlan a la Sainte-Therese, and
of which my charming Miss partook with pleasure. I followed this by two
little entrees of sweetbread and chicken; and the only brown thing which
I permitted myself in the entertainment was a little roast of lamb,
which I lay in a meadow of spinaches, surrounded with croustillons,
representing sheep, and ornamented with daisies and other savage
flowers. After this came my second service: a pudding a la Reine
Elizabeth (who, Madame Fribsbi knows, was a maiden princess); a dish
of opal-coloured plover's eggs which I called Nid de tourtereaux a la
Roucoule; placing in the midst of them two of those tender volatiles,
billing each other, and confectioned with butter; a basket containing
little gateaux of apricots, which, I know, all young ladies adore; and
a jelly of marasquin, bland insinuating, intoxicating as the glance of
beauty. This I designated Ambroisie de Calypso a la Souveraine de
mon Coeur. And when the ice was brought in--an ice of plombiere and
cherries--how do you think I had shaped them, Madame Fribsbi? In the
form of two hearts united with an arrow, on which I had laid, before it
entered, a bridal veil in cut-paper, surmounted by a wreath of virginal
orange-flowers. I stood at the door to watch the effect of this entry.
It was but one cry of admiration. The three young ladies filled their
glasses with the sparkling Ay, and carried me in a toast. I heard it--I
heard Miss speak of me--I heard her say, 'Tell Monsieur Mirobolant that
we thank him--we admire him--we love him!' My feet almost failed me as
she spoke.

"Since that, can I have any reason to doubt that the young artist has
made some progress in the heart of the English Miss? I am modest, but
my glass informs me that I am not ill-looking. Other victories have
convinced me of the fact."

"Dangerous man!" cried the milliner.

"The blond misses of Albion see nothing in the dull inhabitants of their
brumous isle, which can compare with the ardour and vivacity of the
children of the South. We bring our sunshine with us; we are Frenchmen,
and accustomed to conquer. Were it not for this affair of the heart, and
my determination to marry an Anglaise, do you think I would stop in this
island (which is not altogether ungrateful, since I have found here a
ten