“No; that’s a figure of speech; I allude to a royal pleasure-house.”
“If you did have stags[B] in your house, it wouldn’t surprise me.—I am much obliged to you for your proffered hospitality, but I do not need to incommode you; I have my room here in Edmond’s house.”
[B] Another covert allusion to “wearing the horns,” or being a cuckold.
“Ah! you stay with Edmond, do you? You would be much better off with us; it’s more elegant there and more comfortable.”
“My dear Chamoureau, I don’t doubt that everything is magnificent in your house, but I am very comfortable at Edmond’s, and I shall sleep there. Moreover, as you may readily imagine, I have accepted your invitation for to-morrow from curiosity. When I learned that you had bought a country house at Chelles——”
“An estate!”
“Well! isn’t a country house an estate?”
“Yes, but when you say a country-house, it seems to mean just a place to sleep, a little box to loaf in over Sunday; whereas an ‘estate’! that instantly denotes something of value, of importance—something vast.”
“Bigre! how we do effervesce since we became Chamoureau de Belleville! But don’t you want me to say a château—a palace? I’ll call it whatever you please!”
“I want—I want above all things that you shouldn’t call me Chamoureau again!”