Your friend,
JULES CLARETIE
de l'Academie Francaise.

APRIL 26, 1892.





ZIBELINE

BOOK 1


CHAPTER I

LES FRERES-PROVENCAUX

In the days of the Second Empire, the Restaurant des Freres-Provencaux
still enjoyed a wide renown to which its fifty years of existence had
contributed more than a little to heighten its fame.

This celebrated establishment was situated near the Beaujolais Gallery of
the Palais-Royal, close to the narrow street leading to the Rue Vivienne,
and it had been the rendezvous of epicures, either residents of Paris or
birds of passage, since the day it was opened.

On the ground floor was the general dining-room, the gathering-place for