In due time, they arrived at Madame Duponceau's house. She was a little woman, who shook her head constantly when conversing, so that she seemed always to reply in the negative to the questions that were asked her. She received Cherami with cordiality, although she barely knew him; but she liked company, and was especially eager to have people admire her house. Cherami was inclined to favor admiring her breakfast first; and, as the young Capucines supported that idea, they repaired at once to the dining-room.
The breakfast consisted of a pie, boiled eggs, ham, and coffee only; but the pie was succulent, the eggs fresh, the ham tender, and the coffee very strong, so that they breakfasted satisfactorily; then Aunt Duponceau cried:
"You must come and see my house, from cellar to roof."
Cherami, whose paunch was well filled, was already saying to himself:
"Sapristi! if I have got to stay here till night, between the aunt and the niece, with the accompaniment of two little brats who keep wiping their hands on my trousers, I shall pay dear for my dinner! Let's see if I can't find a back-door.—We had better begin the inspection of your house with the garden," he said to Aunt Duponceau; "after such an excellent breakfast, one feels the need of a breath of fresh air."
This suggestion was adopted, and they adjourned to the garden, which was of small dimensions and offered nothing attractive to the eye save four gillyflowers in pots; for in December there are few leaves on the trees. The garden presented but slight attraction, therefore, but at the end of it was a gate opening on the Bois de Boulogne. The ladies and the children, being stiff with cold, soon had enough of the garden; whereupon Cherami took a cigar from his pocket, saying:
"I am going to ask your leave to smoke this cigar outside, in the Bois. I cannot go without a smoke after breakfast; it's a habit that has fastened itself on me: a very bad habit, I admit, but it's too late to cure myself of it."
"Smoke in the garden," said Madame Duponceau.
"No, indeed! Your garden's very small, and the smell of tobacco would sadly impair the perfume of your gillyflowers. I don't choose to turn your delightful cottage into a barrack."
"He is very well bred," whispered Madame Duponceau to her niece.