"Ah! what you say is very gallant; but it seems to me that my face is of an entirely different type from my sister’s."
"Let’s see my poem," said Madame Gérard; "I am very curious to know what he has to say to me:
"‘Vos attraits charment les cœurs,
Vous avez grâce et jeunesse—’"
"Evidently it is a circular," said Monsieur Berlingue.
"It is extremely flattering to receive the same compliment as Madame Gérard!" said Mademoiselle Cornélie, with a shrug; while all the ladies proceeded to read their mottoes.
"It is most astonishing that they all have the same thing," said Uncle Mignon, running from one lady to another. "It is like the card trick someone played on me, when I saw nothing but aces of hearts in the pack."
"Who is the author of these pretty lines?" inquired the chevalier sneeringly.
"My librarian," replied Robineau.
"What! that man in black, with buttons like plates?"
"The same. He’s a scholar of the first rank, a man who knows everything!"