whole show. Waiter, draw the corks and we will eat up everything at
once, eh, my cherubs? No ceremony, no false delicacy. This is fine fun;
it is Oriental, it is splendid. In the centre of Africa everybody acts
in this manner. We must introduce poetry into our pleasures. Pass me
some cheese with my turkey. Ha! ha! ha! I feel queer, I am wild, I am
crazy, am I not, pets?" And he bestowed two more kisses, as before. If
I had not been already drunk, upon my honor, I should have made a scene.

I was stupid. Around me they were laughing, shouting, singing, and
rattling their plates. A racket of popping corks and breaking glasses
buzzed in my ears, but it seemed to me that a cloud had risen between me
and the outer world; a veil separated me from the other guests, and,
in spite of the evidence of my senses, I thought I was dreaming. I could
distinguish, however, though in a confused manner, the animated glances
and heightened color of the guests, and, above all, a disorder quite new
to me in the toilettes of the ladies. Even my sweetheart appeared to
have changed. Suddenly--it was as a flash of lightning--my beloved, my
angel, my ideal, she whom that very morning I was ready to marry, leaned
toward the examining magistrate and--I still feel the cold shudder--
devoured three truffles which were on his plate.

I experienced keen anguish; it seemed to me as if my heart were breaking
just then.

Here my recollections cease. What then took place I do not know. All I
remember is that some one took me home in a cab. I kept asking: "Where
is she? Where? Oh, where?"

I was told that she had left two hours before. The next morning I
experienced a keen sense of despair when the truffles of the examining