"You must do as I have done, put pistols in your pockets."
He showed me the butt-end of a pistol sticking out of his pocket.
"Diable!" I exclaimed, "if I thought anything would happen I would dispense with dinner!"
"Oh! don't be anxious, if there is anything it will last long enough for you to come back before dessert."
That was probable, so we went off without scruples. I was so weak that I was obliged to lean on the arm of my two companions, and I very nearly fainted before entering the restaurant. They made me drink iced water and I revived. Everything was topsy-turvy, and we had great difficulty in getting waited on. We were engrossed in a huge fish-pie, the main dish always served in a dinner à la Râpée, when we heard a volley of firing, but so peculiar in sound that we never doubted but that it was the discharge over the hearse in honour of the illustrious dead.
"To the memory of General Lamarque!" I said, raising my glass.
My two companions pledged me. Then we heard four or five single shots.
"Oh! oh!" I exclaimed, "that is another tale altogether! Those shots sound like sport."
I ran on to the quay, where I climbed up on a railing. Nothing could be made out except that there was a great commotion about the pont d'Austerlitz.
"Pay quick and come and see what that music is," I said to my two companions.