be a member of the Academy of Sciences; I'll make some great
discovery, and win her hand by force of fame."

"Ah!" thought the poor woman to herself, "I ought to have had a
gentle, peaceful, learned man like that. I might have slowly developed
in a life of quietness. It was not thy will, O God! but, I pray thee,
unite and bless these children; they are made for one another."

And she sat there, pensive, listening to the racket made by her
sister-in-law--a ten-horse power at work--who now, lending a hand to
her two servants, cleared the table, taking everything out of the
dining-room to accommodate the dancers, vociferating, like the captain
of a frigate on his quarter-deck when taking his ship into action:
"Have you plenty of raspberry syrup?" "Run out and buy some more
orgeat!" "There's not enough glasses. Where's the 'eau rougie'? Take
those six bottles of 'vin ordinaire' and make more. Mind that
Coffinet, the porter, doesn't get any." "Caroline, my girl, you are to
wait at the sideboard; you'll have tongue and ham to slice in case
they dance till morning. But mind, no waste! Keep an eye on
everything. Pass me the broom; put more oil in those lamps; don't make
blunders. Arrange the remains of the dessert so as to make a show on
the sideboard; ask my sister to come and help us. I'm sure I don't
know what she's thinking about, that dawdle! Heavens, how slow she is!
Here, take away these chairs, they'll want all the room they can get."

The salon was full of Barniols, Collevilles, Phellions, Laudigeois,
and many others whom the announcement of a dance at the Thuilliers',
spread about in the Luxembourg between two and four in the afternoon,
the hour at which the bourgeoisie takes its walk, had drawn thither.