obscure position! how he scoffs at the bourgeois of 1830! What Attic
salt in his wit! He would be the king of Bohemia, if Bohemia would
endure a king. His _verve_ is inexhaustible. To him we owe a map of
the country and the names of the seven castles which Nodier could not
discover."

"The one thing wanting in one of the cleverest skits of our time,"
said the Marquise.

"You can form your own opinion of La Palferine from a few
characteristic touches," continued Nathan. "He once came upon a friend
of his, a fellow-Bohemian, involved in a dispute on the boulevard with
a bourgeois who chose to consider himself affronted. To the modern
powers that be, Bohemia is insolent in the extreme. There was talk of
calling one another out.

"'One moment,' interposed La Palferine, as much Lauzun for the
occasion as Lauzun himself could have been. 'One moment. Monsieur was
born, I suppose?'

"'What, sir?'

"'Yes, are you born? What is your name?'

"'Godin.'

"'Godin, eh!' exclaimed La Palferine's friend.

"'One moment, my dear fellow,' interrupted La Palferine. 'There are
the Trigaudins. Are you one of them?'