all this, I dare say, you are better acquainted than I."

"_Parbleu!_ not I," said the student, shouldering his camp-stool as if
it were a musket, and slinging his portfolio by a strap across his back;
"therefore, I am all the more obliged to you for the information. My
reading is neither very extensive nor very useful; and as for my
library, I could pack it all into a hat-case any day, and find room for
a few other trifles at the same time. Here is the author I chiefly
study. He is my constant companion, and, like myself, looks somewhat the
worse for wear."

Saying which, he produced from one of his pockets a little, greasy,
dog-eared volume of Beranger, about the size of a small snuff-box, and
began singing aloud, to a very cheerful air, a song of which a certain
faithless Mademoiselle Lisette was the heroine, and of which the refrain
was always:--

"_Lisette! ma Lisette,
Tu m'as trompé toujours;
Je veux, Lisette,
Boire à nos amours_."

To this accompaniment we walked back through the gardens to the railway
station, where, being a quarter of an hour too soon, our companion
amused himself by "chaffing," questioning, contradicting, and otherwise
ingeniously tormenting the check-takers and porters of the
establishment. One pompous official, in particular, became so helplessly
indignant that he retired into a little office overlooking the platform,
and was heard to swear fluently, all by himself, for several minutes.
The time having expired and the doors being opened, we passed out with