"Won't you take a glass of champagne with us, madame?" "Oh! monsieur is very polite----" "Accept, Putiphar, accept; nobody ever refuses a glass of champagne!" "I am tempted----" "With a biscuit in it, eh?" "I should prefer, if it's all the same to you, the chicken wing I see on that dish." "That's all right. Draw up to the table.--Manette, a plate for Madame Putiphar.--Will you have some pâté de foie gras too?" "You tempt me--but, really, I am ashamed of myself. Monsieur will think I'm a great glutton." "That's not a failing, madame; it's a good quality." Madame Putiphar took her place at the table, stuffed herself with chicken, pâté, and truffles, partook freely of claret, madeira, and champagne, and never paused for breath until the dessert was being brought on. Then she wiped her mouth, saying: "A very pretty little feast; monsieur knows how to treat the ladies." "Oh! Dodichet's very polite," said Boulotte; "he's eaten up a lot of money with women." "Mon Dieu! mesdames, what is the good of money, if not to give you pleasure?" "Ah! what a sweet sentiment! Monsieur deserves to be embalmed." "What's that! embalmed?" "I meant to say, turned into a statuette." "Unfortunately, you've become very rare lately, Dodichet," said Rosa; "we hardly ever see you." "It isn't my fault! I am not my own master since my intimate friend Count Miflorès came to Paris." "Oh, yes! that Sicilian, who's so rich!" "He doesn't know the amount of his fortune." "Is he a relation of yours?" "No; but I rendered him an important service in Sicily; he was on the point of falling into a volcano; did you know there were volcanoes in Sicily?" "Yes, mountains that spit fire; I saw one in a play, at La Gaieté." "My Sicilian, who is very inquisitive and very brave, had ascended Mount Ætna, and was looking into the mouth of the crater; suddenly he dropped his cane, and it fell into the fiery gulf. Count Miflorès thought a great deal of that cane, which he had inherited from his mother; he was going down into the crater to try to recover it, which would have been to go to certain destruction! Luckily, I was there--with my dog, a magnificent Newfoundland. I pointed to the hole, and to the cane, of which we could see one end, and said: 'Go, seek! go, seek!'--My dog understood me; he rushed down into the crater, and soon returned with the cane between his teeth and laid it at my feet. I gave it to the count, who was overjoyed, and who swore everlasting friendship to me from that day." "Ah! the brave count! no, I mean the brave dog! You ought to have given him a good dinner when you got home!" "Alas! the poor beast never got home; after a minute or two, he fell dead at my feet; he was roasted, the heat of the crater had cooked him!" "Oh! what an idea! And still he brought back the cane, roasted as he was?" "His devotion sustained him.--But it seems to me, mesdames, that it is high time to attack this nougat and water it with a little alicante."