"It is a rabbit stew, according to our host; but it's too good to be rabbit, it must be cat at least!"
"Ah! bigre! I propose to have some of it, too.—Holà! waiter! bring me a portion of the same dish that my friend has; if it isn't the same animal, I won't have it! And by the way, waiter, you may also bring me some fricot of veal, with small onions—a large portion! Make it double, and I will give my friend Plumard some; he has a weakness for veal, like myself. And, waiter, I could eat some of that delicious fish which is noted for its bones—a carp, as fine as those at Fontainebleau, where they resemble whales; a fried carp! That is a feast in itself—with a sprig of parsley on it; and I know that my friend Plumard does not profess a profound contempt for the carp. Moisten it all with that Argenteuil light wine that is so well stripped—you know what I mean, don't you? the old, not the new; the really old, that you don't make yourself.—Go, waiter, and if I am content with you I will grease your palm, as we say at the office."
"But I say!" said Plumard, fixing his great round eyes on his vis-à-vis; "what does this mean, Bahuchet? Have you had a legacy left you? or has a fair lady of mature years let her favors fall upon you?"
"No! nothing of the sort! Certainly, a lady might fall in love with me as well as with another. I am not a foe of the fair sex. Although there is always a reverse side to the medal, I will not say of women, with Suetonius, that we must missam facere uxorem!—That Suetonius was not a gallant man."
"Answer what I ask you, instead of quoting your classics!"
"It seems to me, Plumard, that with you I may venture to take a few strides into the domain of science. You are a clerk like myself; you must understand Latin. If you do not understand it, I grieve for you."
"What an infernal chatterbox! he keeps branching off from his subject."
"That proves that I have facility in elocution, elasticity in my ideas. There are many people who would like to branch off from their subject, and who cannot. They have to remain nailed fast to it, for lack of imagination to think up anything else;—quid agis? You wish to know why I treat you so handsomely this evening, do you not? Well, I propose to tell you: I won a dozen livres in a game of brisque with a churl, and I propose to consume a part of it with you. Do you think that I do wrong?"
"No, no! far from it; it is an excellent idea of yours!"
"Ah! it is very lucky that you approve of my action."