"Thankee, ma'amselle, you are so kind!" said the old body; and then she added, "Come, deary, suck this down, that will make you all right." And Anastasie, presenting the phial quickly to M. Pipelet's lips, contrived to make him swallow the absinthe. In vain did Alfred struggle vigorously. His wife, taking advantage of the victim's weakness, held up his head firmly with one hand, whilst with the other she introduced the neck of the little bottle between his teeth, and compelled him to swallow the absinthe, after which she exclaimed, triumphantly: "Ther-r-r-r-e, now-w-w! you're on your pins again, my ducky!" And Alfred, having wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, opened his eyes, rose, and inquired, in accents of alarm: "Have you seen him?" "Who?" "Is he gone?" "Who, Alfred?" "_Cabrion!_" "Has he dared--" asked the porteress. M. Pipelet, as mute as the statue of the commandant, like that redoubtable spectre, bowed his head twice with an affirmative air. "What! has M. Cabrion been here?" inquired Rigolette, repressing a violent desire to laugh. "What! has the monster been unchained on Alfred?" said Madame Pipelet. "Oh, if I had been there with my broom, he should have swallowed it, handle and all! But tell us, Alfred, all about this horrid affair." M. Pipelet made signs with his hand that he was about to speak, and they listened to the man with the bell-crowned hat in religious silence, whilst he expressed himself in these terms, and in a voice of deep emotion: "My wife had left me, to save me the trouble of going out, according to the request of monsieur," bowing to Rodolph, "to the mayor's, to church, and the cook-shop." "The dear old darling had had the nightmare all night, and I wished to save him the journey," said Anastasie. "This nightmare was sent me as a warning from on high," responded the porter, religiously. "I had dreamed of Cabrion, and I was to suffer from Cabrion. Here was I sitting quietly in front of my table, reflecting on an alteration which I wished to make in the upper leather of this boot confided to my hands, when I heard a noise, a rustling, at the window of my lodge,--was it a presentiment, a warning from on high? My heart beat, I lifted up my head, and, through the pane of glass, I saw--I saw--" "Cabrion!" exclaimed Anastasie, clasping her hands. "Cabrion!" replied M. Pipelet, gloomily. "His hideous face was there, pressed close against the window, and he was looking at me with eyes like a cat's--what do I say?--a tiger's! just as in my dream. I tried to speak, but my tongue clave to my mouth; I tried to rise, I was nailed to my seat. My boot fell from my hands, and, as in all the critical and important events of my life, I remained perfectly motionless. Then the key turned in the lock, the door opened,--Cabrion entered!" "He entered? Owdacious monster!" replied Madame Pipelet, as much astonished as her spouse at such audacity.