p in his
night-shirt, that Peter's must and ought to be open still, as _we_ had
not had our supper yet; and Topp and Jack Hobson, forsooth, must join in
the row. I have no distinct recollection of whether it was our phantom
guest or either of my companions that madly strove to detain the hastily
retreating form of the concierge by a desperate clutch at the tail of
his shirt; I only remember that the garment gave way in the struggle,
and that the unhappy functionary was reduced nearly altogether to the
primitive buff costume of the father of man in Paradise ere he had put
his teeth into that unlucky apple of which, the pips keep so
inconveniently sticking in poor humanity's gizzard to the present day.
And what I remember also to my cost is, that the sergent-de-ville, whom
the bereaved man's shouts of distress brought to the scene, fastened
upon _me_, the most inoffensive of mortals, for a compensation fine of
twenty francs, as if _I_ had been the culprit. And deuced glad we were,
I assure you, to get off without more serious damage to our pocket and
reputation than this, and a copious volley of _sacres ivrognes Anglais_,
fired at us by the wretched concierge and his friend of the police, who,
I am quite sure, went halves with him in the compensation. Ah! they are
a lawless set, these French.

"On another occasion we three went to the Exhibition, where we visited
one of our colonial departments, in company with several English
friends, and some French gentlemen appointed on the wine jury. We went
to taste a few samples of colonial wines. _He_ was not with us _then_.
Barely, however, had we uncorked a poor dozen bottles, which turned out
rather good for colonial, though a little raw and slightly uneducated,
when _who_ should stalk in but our fourth man, as jaunty and
unconcerned as ever. Well, _he_ fell to tasting, and he soon grew
eloquent in praise of the colonial juice, which he declared would, in
another twenty years' time, be fit to compete successfully with the best
French vintages. Of course, the French gentlemen with us could not stand
_this_; they spoke slightingly of the British colonial, and one of them
even went so far as to call it rotgut. I cannot say whether it was the
spirit of the uncompromising opinion thus pronounced, or the coarsely
indelicate way in which the judgment of our French friend was expressed,
that riled our phantom guest--enough, it brought him down in full force
upon the offender and his co