_" said the former
_premier sujet_, with a sigh; "but it is on the decline. Of the grand
style of fifty years ago, only myself and tradition remain."

"Monsieur was, doubtless, a contemporary of Vestris, the famous dancer,"
I said.

"The illustrious Vestris, Monsieur," said the little old gentleman,
"was, next to Louis the Fourteenth, the greatest of Frenchmen. I am
proud to own myself his disciple, as well as his contemporary."

"Why next to Louis the Fourteenth, Monsieur Dorinet?" I asked, keeping
my countenance with difficulty. "Why not next to Napoleon the First, who
was a still greater conqueror?"

"But no dancer, Monsieur!" replied the ex-god Scamander, with a kind of
half pirouette; "whereas the Grand Monarque was the finest dancer of
his epoch."

Madame Marotte had by this time supplied all her guests with tea and
coffee, while Monsieur Philomene went round with the cakes and bread and
butter. Madame Desjardins spread her pocket-handkerchief on her lap--a
pocket-handkerchief the size of a small table-cloth. Madame de
Montparnasse, more mindful of her gentility, removed to a corner of the
tea-table, and ate her bread and butter in her black cotton gloves.

"We hope we have another bachelor by-and-by," said Madame Marotte,
addressing herself to the young ladies, who looked down and giggled. "A
charming man, mesdemoiselles, and quite the gentleman--our _locataire_,
M'sieur Lenoir. You know him, M'sieur Dorinet--pray tell these
demoiselles what a charming man M'sieur Lenoir is!"

The little dancing-master bowed, coughed, smiled, and looked somewhat
embarrassed.

"Monsieur Lenoir is no doubt a man of much information," he said,
hesitatingly; "a traveller--a reader--a gentleman--oh! yes, certainly a
gentleman. But to say that he is a--a charming man ... well, perhaps the
ladies are the best judges of such nice questions. What says
Mam'selle Marie?"

Thus applied to, the fair Marie became suddenly crimson, and had not a
word to reply with. Monsieur Dorinet stared. The young ladies tittered.
Madame Marotte, deaf as a post and serenely unconscious, smiled, nodded,
and said "Ah, yes, yes--didn't I tell you so?"

"Monsieur Dorinet has, I fear, asked an indiscreet question," said
Mueller, boiling over with jealousy.

"I--I have not observed Monsieur Lenoir sufficiently to--to form an
opinion," faltered Marie, ready to cry with vexation.

Mueller glared at her reproachfully, turned on his heel, and came over t