"Oh! the dear loves, how sweet of them! Who wrote them?"
"My husband, aunt; they are in poetry!"
"Your husband writes poetry? I didn't know he had that talent; how long has he been a poet?"
"Since we have had for a customer a literary man who writes mottoes; he brings us some every time he comes to the house. Come, Aristoloche, begin. Go and stand in front of your aunt; and pronounce your words plain."
LII
MADAME CAPUCINE'S LITTLE SONS
The little fellow tried first of all to obtain possession of the visitor's stick, and to gallop round the table astride it; they could not succeed in making him behave except by promising him that, if he would repeat his verses nicely, he should play with a rabbit which was very gentle and which was sometimes brought into the salon to entertain the company.
At last, Master Aristoloche took his stand in front of his great-aunt, and recited without stopping to take breath:
"'Ah! quel bonheur, en ce beau jour, De vous prouver tout mon amour!
Du plaisir, je suis dans l'attente,
Quand je dois aller chez ma tante!
En amour comme en amitié
Sachez tout mettre de moitié.'"
"It is easy to see that our papa knows a maker of mottoes," thought Cherami.
"What do you think of my husband's poetry?" asked Madame Capucine.