"But he called you by name when he bet." "I don't know whether he knows me, or not, but I don't know him." "That's strange. He acts as if he were a little tipsy. We must find out who he is. Ah! there's Armand, one of the groomsmen. I say, Armand, come here a moment; tell us who that man is, whose costume is so unconventional for a wedding party?" "The gentleman in a frock-coat, who runs into everybody?" "The same." "I have just asked the bride, and she doesn't know him either." "And the groom?" "He is dancing. But there's his uncle, Monsieur Blanquette; I'll go and ask him about the fellow; and if nobody knows him, we'll soon show him the door, I promise you." But before the groomsman could reach the bridegroom's uncle, Cherami, who had spied the linen-draper, hastened to meet him, and said, tapping him on the stomach: "Here I am, my dear friend! You didn't ask me to your party, but I said to myself: 'I'll go all the same, because, with old acquaintances, one shouldn't take offence at trifles.'--Then what did I do?--I dined here, in a private room on the first floor, and dined magnificently, too, I flatter myself! and then I came up to say bonsoir to you, and to salute the bride--and to dance with anybody, I don't care who! I'm an obliging person, you see.--So there you are, my dear Papa Blanquette. Old friends are always on hand, as the song says." Monsieur Blanquette was surprised beyond words to find himself confronted by the gentleman whom he had met in the afternoon, when he alighted from his carriage. He did not seem overjoyed to see him at the ball; but as he did not desire his nephew's wedding party to be disturbed by any unpleasant scene, he strove to conceal his annoyance, and rejoined: "Faith, Monsieur Cherami, I didn't expect to see you again! So you dined at this restaurant, did you?" "Yes, my estimable friend; and dined deliciously, too, I beg you to believe." "So I perceive!" "What! so you perceive! and by what do you perceive it, I pray to know?" "Why, because you seem to be much inclined--to laugh." "I am always cheerful when I am among my friends. That's my nature, you know. Pray present me to the bride." "But, excuse me--it seems to me that you are hardly in ball dress--and the ladies are rather particular about that." "If you'd invited me, I'd have come in full dress; you didn't invite me, so I came as a neighbor. All is for the best, as Doctor Pangloss says. Present me to your niece." "Later; they are going to dance now; you see they are forming a quadrille. Let us go into another room." "They are going to dance, eh? Then I'll not go, deuce take me! for I can dance, you know. I used to be one of the best of La Chaumiere's pupils, and she was a pupil of Chicard. People fought for places to see me dance the _Tulipe Orageuse._ I propose to show you that I haven't forgotten it all."