"Monsieur le baron, in the temple of Apollo, the pythonesses, seated on the sacred tripod, received the prophetic exhalations under their robes." "If my wife had seated herself on that tripod, Monsieur Ménard, I should have asked for a separation." Goton put an end to this conversation by bringing an omelet and white wine. "Were the gentlemen satisfied with the stew?" she asked. "It was worse than the devil!" replied Frédéric. "It was a total failure," said Ménard. "My dear child," added Dubourg, "the rabbits in Bretagne don't smell so strong of cabbage. They have fine rabbits there; but here you have a very bad way of bringing them up." "It would seem that monsieur le baron has passed a good deal of time in Bretagne?" said Ménard, respectfully putting out his hand to take a pinch of snuff from the King of Prussia's snuff-box, which Dubourg offered him. "Yes, Monsieur Ménard; and I admit that I still have a weakness for that province. I have such delightful recollections of it! Ah! how lovely the sky is in Bretagne! And the fields--how pretty they are! What rich pastures, what enchanting groves! You can walk leagues and leagues without once leaving the leafy thickets and flower-grown paths which make the fields of Bretagne one endless garden." "But Poland, monsieur le baron?" "Oh! Poland has its good points, of course. Have you ever been there, Monsieur Ménard?" "I have not had that honor, monsieur le baron." "As you are not familiar with the country, I will talk with you often about it." "It must be a very interesting country." "Extremely interesting, and extremely picturesque; first of all, we have the Krapach Mountains, beside which Mont Cenis is no more than a little hillock." "Oh, indeed! they are covered with snow, of course?" "Almost all the year. I have a château on the summit of one of those mountains, where only chamois can keep their footing." "But how do you reach your château, monsieur le baron?" "I have had a winding staircase constructed inside the mountain; it cost me a hundred thousand francs, but it's a wonderful piece of work, and people come hundreds of miles to see it. I trust, Monsieur Ménard, that I shall have the pleasure of showing it to you, and of entertaining you for some time at my castle of Krapach. I will give you a glass of a certain tokay which came to me from Tekely's cellar; and you will tell me what you think of it." "Ah! monsieur le baron, you overpower me. But it must be very cold at your château, is it not?" "It used to be very cold, in truth, in the days of my ancestors; but, thanks to recent scientific discoveries, I have found a way of modifying the temperature--a very simple method, which answers my purposes perfectly." "What is it, pray, monsieur le baron?"