I don't suppose you will be astonished at a curious encounter which has

just taken place.

I must tell you that in my uncle's character while in Paris,

Barbassou-Pasha, General in the Turkish cavalry, predominates over

Captain Barbassou the sailor. He takes a ride every morning, and I of

course accompany him. These are our occasions both for intimate talks

and for discussing serious questions; and I beg you to understand that

my uncle's notions upon the latter are by no means ordinary ones. He

adorns such questions with quite original views--views which are

certainly not the property of any other mortal known or likely to be

Advertisement..

known in this world below. He starts a subject for me, and I give him

the cue as well as I can.

I know of nothing more instructive than to

follow his lines of argument--he has a separate one for each

subject--upon different departments of private and political life,

judged from his own standpoint. As a legislator I fancy he would commit

radical mistakes; but as a philosopher, I doubt very much if a match

could be found for him, for I don't think that his methods can be

compared with those of any existing school of thought.

The other morning we went to the forest of Mendon; my uncle, as a lover

of the picturesque, considers that the Bois de Boulogne, with its lake,

looks as if it had been taken out of a box of German toys. We arrived at

Villebon, a sort of farm situated in the middle of the forest, with a

few fields attached to it. There is a restaurant there, which is much

frequented on Sundays during the summer.

My uncle, enchanted with the place, wanted to stop and take his glass of

madeira there. So, leaving our horses in charge of a stable-boy, we went

into one of the rooms. At a table at the further end, quite a

stylish-looking woman, who looked as if she were out with somebody on

the spree, was sitting by herself, finishing a liqueur-ice, with her hat

off and lying by her side. Her figure, as viewed from the back, was

exquisite, with graceful and well-set shoulders, an elegantly poised

neck with a lovely little dimple on the nape, crowned by a luxuriant

chignon, from which emerged a profusion of rebellious tresses----.

"Waiter! Madeira, please!" shouted my uncle in his formidable bass

voice.

At this unexpected explosion, the strange lady jumped up from her chair

and looked suddenly round. But directly she saw the captain, she

screamed out and fainted away all at once.

I must do my uncle the justice of admitting that when he noticed the

remarkable effect he had produced, he exhibited a slight gesture of

surprise; which, however, soon passed off. Without calling any help, in

four strides he reached the lady's side, and supported her against the

table, raising up her pretty head which had fallen back, and slapping

her hands. Then, having satisfied himself that she had completely lost

consciousness, he began without any more ado to unfasten her dress, tore

open her collar, and, with admirable dexterity, unhooked the upper part

of her stays--thereby revealing to our gaze two charming globes,

imprisoned in lace.




Most Popular