"That Augutht Monléard had lotht enormouth thumth on the Bourth of late, and that he mutht be in a very bad way."
"Ah! the devil! that's why I found him so distraught, then. At supper, he drank a lot to forget himself, I noticed that."
"After all, he may pull up again—luck may turn. Ah! I thee a cab. Monthieur, I with you good-night, or rather good-day, for here'th the light."
"Your servant, monsieur."
Batonnin returned to his lodgings alone and on foot, saying to himself:
"Well, whether Monléard is ruined or not, I had two suppers, all the same!"
Our friends and acquaintances almost always welcome our misfortunes in such wise.
XXXIV
AUNT DUPONCEAU
Cherami, in accordance with his usual custom, spent very freely the money Gustave had given him; he still possessed a few francs out of the five hundred, however; and his appearance was very decent, too, for he had presented himself with a new hat, and he still had his new switch. One cold but beautiful morning, about ten o'clock, as he strolled in the direction of the Madeleine, to give himself an appetite, the ci-devant Beau Arthur saw coming toward him a woman of enormous size, holding by each hand a small boy, one of whom wore a hat surrounded by feathers, which gave him the look of a trained monkey. The children, as well as their mother, were so enveloped and swaddled in winter garments that they had not the free use of their limbs. These three living bundles rolled along the street, lurching against one another; but when they came face to face with our stroller, they halted, and the stout woman exclaimed:
"I cannot be mistaken; it is certainly Monsieur Cherami, out walking so early!"