Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

the insult to the lion's mane. Frederic Ricard, his countenance
pale with auger, but calm and resolved as a man who
knows his own strength and right, rose from the table and
slowly approached the one who seemed to be the chief of the
party.
"
Monsieur," he said, laying his righthnnd on his shoulder,
"
I cannot suppose you have any intention of insulting me,
for you are eight against one I believe ; you to be to > good
Frenchmen to do so cowardly a thing. Be that as it may, you
will permit me to remark that gentlemen of good breeding
ought to respect those whom chance unites under tho same
roof. Now, as your songs annoy me, and here, we are nei-
ther in the theatre, nor in the street, you will greatly oblige
me by discontinuing them. "
eller, thinking of the maigre dinner he was about to ridicule.
At the same moment the organ boy, his face sparkling with
joy, entered the hall, and turning the handle of i.is instrument,
began playing the first notes of a chorus in La Dame
Blanche.
"
Will you please take yourself off as quickly as you can,
"
Mr. Grinder ! cried the singers, thus interrupted in the best
part of the.r song.
"Stop! "said the captain, in a voice accustomed to com-
"
Messieurs, I detest vocal music with-
mand, and then added :
out accompaniment at the same time I admire ; harmony. Let
me have my organ, you can have your songs. "
"
But, Monsieur, we are not iri the street."
"
I am aware of that but we are in a ; public place, where
"
each can do as he pleases.
This reply was unanswerable the ; noisy party had to suffer
the consequences of the law they had themselves laid down.
They began again, in a higher key, but the clamorous notes
of the instrument playing the deep chorus of the Marche
des Tartares, so overpowered and confounded the voices,
that after a long discord the organ remained master
of the field. Not satisfied with his first victory, the captain
turning towards the band, whose extinguished fire threatened
to rekindle in an anti-religious refrain of "
Bfiranger's ; Mes-
sieurs," he asked, " do you like duets ? You do not answer
this, this gives consent ; so we will treat you with a piece
which will set your hair on end." At these words, seeing in a
corner of the room the box of the public crier, he fetched it,
gave a signal to the organ player, and both of them executed,
on the air of La belle Arsene, an infernal discord a veritable
charivari. In less than five minutes, Ricard had obtained such
a victory as a generous adversary never abuses ; he therefore
dismissed the organ boy and his instrument.
The travellers, beaten on their own ground, waited for an
opportunity of revenge. It presented itself lit the moment
CAPTAIN RICARD. 27
they feared it was escaping them ; in fact, they had prepared
their batteries againat their adversary's) w:auty dinner ; what
was their surprise, th.in, when they H:r.v the cover
" Have we been deceived?" said they, looking quite mysti-
fied.
" We are robbed," said tho chief of the party, seeing the
captain vigorously attack a magnificent roast fowl.
"I would willingly give three francs ten sous," added one of
his companions, whose red nose testified to his propensities ;
" I will give a hundred sous to the waiter; to see that fowl
change into a carp."
Wounded to the quick by the hidden provocation which this
speech implied, Ricard put back tho juicy wing which perfumed
his plate, and calling the boy, said, " Take away this
'
Monsieur," answered the chief of the band sharply, in a
shrill cracked voice, "we are extremely sorry to inform you it
is not in our power to satisfy you on this point. It is true we
are neither in the theatre, nor in the street but we are in a
;
public place, where each can do as he pleases. We shall continue
to sing, and you can dance, if that is agreeable."
" That is quite right," replied Ricard
"
then each for him-
;
self, and God for all," and returning to his seat, he finished
his glass of absinthe, rang for the waiter, and ordered him to
bring dinner. It was Friday, a day of abstinence.
'
I am certain," said one of the young men, loud enough to
heard, "that this Jesuit in the blue coat is going to make a
maigre dinner."
"That will be a droll thing to see," added his neighbor.
" We shall have a good laugh," said the chief ; and giving a
new signal he commenced a song from Beranger. Just then
an organ began playing in the Square de Louie the overture of
Gulistan. Ricard whispered to the waiter who brought his
"
plate ; go and bring that organ boy in here fowl."
" Is it not roasted enough, sir ?"
"
Nothing could be better."
" Then why does monsieur refuse it ?"
" Because it does not suit me to eat it."
The travellers, their eyes fixed two onjfche speakers, waited
with anxiety the issue of the scene:' The officer continued,
" What day is it ?"
"Friday,
; fetch him
quickly. Here are five francs, which you can divide with
him."
"
I understand, Monsieur," said the boy, "he shall come di-
"
rectly.
" We shall have a good laugh," returned the facetious trav-
monsieur."
" Are you quite sure ?"
"
Perfectly sure."
"
In thatcuse, replace this fowl by a carp."
" Monsieur will then be served en maigre f"
"Yes, my friend."
"
Good. Now we shall have our laugh," said the travellers,
rubbing their hands.
As he desired, the officer was served entirely en maigre.
The carp, as you may imagine, received, on its entry, the honors
of an ovation. We will pass over the sarcasms and jokes
'
with which the singers seasoned the captain's fure ; he, calm
and immovable as an old trooper, did not even let his fork
tremble. It was delightful to witness him, opposing a dignified
silence to foolish pit-asantries, invented out of hatred to the
clergy and religion ; the more direct the insults, the less they
seemed to affect him.
"Decidedly the holy man has made a vow of patience," said
one.
"I think," said another, "that he carries a hair-shirt under
his great coat."
" He gives himself the airs of a soldier, and yet has only
served at Mass."
" Parbleu ! I recognize him !" laughingly
said another of
the guests, who until this moment had kept a prudent silence ;
" he was at the side of M. Dupin at the procession of St.
Acheul, and, like him, carried a holy taper."
" Gargon," said the captain, " bring me some coffee."
"Gargon," cried the one who was the leader of the party,
" do not forget the little glass of holy water. "
"Bravissimo! well hit 1" shouted the insulters, enthusiastic
at what they considered the finishing stroke.
The captain slowly took his cup of mocha, then, when he had
drank the last drop of cognac that the boy gave him, he ro>o
from the table as calm as if nothing had happened to disturb
his equanimity.
"Now," said the chief of the party, "we have the
handle.
second
"
"Let us see who has the best," answered the officer., and
measuring from head to foot the tall figure of his facetious ad-
versary, he asked, " What is your name, monsieur ?"
"Ohameron, Frangois-Joseph."
"Monsieur Joseph-Frangois Chameron, of what country are
you ?"
" Of a country where the seed of the Jesuits has not taken
root."
" In what religion have you been brought up ?"
"
In the Catholic religion. But you, monsieur, let me ask
yon in your turn, what are you called ?"
" Frederic Ricard, at your service."
" What is vour country ?"
*