Alfred; or, The Adventures of a French Gentleman — page 51: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oS ALFRED; OR ADVENTURES ‘¢ You have good taste in commanding a dinner, I opine.” ‘¢ And you in cooking it.” ‘¢ Still it is disheartening,” observed Champignon, ‘‘ not to be paid for that which costs us occasionally much labour.” ‘¢ Tt is not a part of my system to draw the purse-strings at every instant,” returned Belle-Rose gravely ; ‘‘ particularly when one finds a good-natured fellow like yourself, my dear Champignon, who is so easy with his credit. I recollect full well how noble was your conduct. Whenever you said a word about the bill, I praised your mutton cutlets, said your vol-au-vent was incomparable, and pledged my existence to the excellence of your wines; upon which you retreated to your kitchen with a complacent smile and an au- dibie chuckle. On those days I was served with a better dinner han ordinarily.” ‘One of the identical vols-au-vent, to which you allude, would be no bad thing at this moment,” cried Champignon. « If wishing and having were synonyms,” said Belle-Rose, ‘* we should all be immediately free and rich.” ‘“ And seated at a dejeuner a la fourchette,” added the gastro- nomer. ‘¢ Faith, would we! eh, De Rosann?” enquired Belle- Rose, fami- liarly tapping the youth upon the shoulder. Alfred replied in the affirmative.. We have already stated, or rather hinted, that certain interested motives, compelling the young man to look beyond the present hour, induced him to be conde- scending and civil to the experienced convict, from whose hardi- hood and knowledge of the bagne he hoped to reap considerable advantages. A long pause ensued, which was only occasionally interrupted by one of the chain humming a tune, or a Gendarme’s swearing most bitterly and energetically against the rain that still continued to pour in torrents. ‘¢ Pray what were you thinking of so earnestly ere now, Monsieur Champignon?” enquired Belle-Rose, after a lengthened silence. ‘«¢ T was racking my brains.—By the bye, talking of brains, how excellently were they served up at my house with the tete de veau a la tortue !” ‘¢ Those were calf’s brains.” +¢ Yes—yes; but all brains are the same, you know.” ‘© Oh! indeed—and those that you were racking,”’ cried Belle- Rose, with an ironical grin. “© T was endeavouring to discover a new method of cooking a mutten cutlet,” answered Champignon seriously. ‘¢ And did you succeed?” ‘ To my heart’s content; I shall call the viands thus arranged coutelettes a la quadrille.”’* | ‘¢ Bravo!’ cried Belle-Rose, laughing. ‘‘ And does the Cadran Rouge —that summum bonum of life—that king of restaurants—still exist?” «¢ Alas! no”—-answered Champignon with a sigh. * A modern French gourmand lately invented couteleites ad la mazurka, CONNIE OOOKS (E©)