CHAPTER VIII.
THE DEATH OF A HORSE.
"It is a better dinner at ?don's than at Bombarda's," Z?phine exclaimed.
"I prefer Bombarda," Blachevelle declared; "there is more luxury: itis more Asiatic. Just look at the dining-room with its mirrors: lookat the knives, they are silver-handled here and bone at ?don's; now,silver is more precious than bone."
"Excepting for those persons who have a silver chin," Tholomy?sobserved.
He was looking at this moment at the dome of the Invalides which wasvisible from Bombardas window. There was a pause.
"Tholomy?s," cried Fameuil, "just now, Listolier and I had adiscussion."
"A discussion is good," replied Tholomy?s; "a quarrel is better."
"We discussed philosophy; which do you prefer, Descartes or Spinoza?"
"D?sangiers," said Tholomy?s.
This judgment rendered, he continued,--
"I consent to live: all is not finished in the world. Since men canstill be unreasonable, I return thanks to the immortal gods. Men lie,but they laugh: they affirm, but they doubt: and something unexpectedissues from the syllogism. This is grand: there are still in the worldhuman beings who can joyously open and shut the puzzle-box of paradox.This wine, ladies, which you are drinking so calmly, is Madeira, youmust know, grown at Coural das Freiras, which is three hundred andseventeen _toises_ above the sea level. Attention while drinking!three hundred and seventeen _toises_, and M. Bombarda, the magnificentrestaurateur, lets you have these three hundred and seventeen _toises_for four francs, fifty centimes."
Tholomy?s drained his glass and then continued:
"Honor to Bombarda! he would be equal to Memphis of Elephanta if hecould ladle me up an Almeh, and to Thygelion of Cheronea if he couldprocure me an Het?ra! for, ladies, there were Bombardas in Greece andEgypt, as Apuleius teaches us. Alas! ever the same thing and nothingnew: nothing is left unpublished in the creation of the Creator.'Nothing new under the sun,' says Solomon: _amor omnibus idem_, andCarabine gets into the St. Cloud fly-boat with Carabin, just as Aspasiaembarked with Pericles aboard the Samos fleet. One last word: Do youknow who Aspasia was, ladies? Although she lived at a time when womenhad no soul, she was a soul: a soul of a pink and purple hue, hotterthan fire, and fresher than the dawn. Aspasia was a creature in whomthe two extremes of woman met. She was a prostituted goddess: Socrates_plus_ Manon Lescaut."
Tholomy?s, when started, would hardly have been checked, had not ahorse fallen in the street at this very moment. Through the shock,cart and orator stopped short. It was a Beauce mare, old and leanand worthy of the knacker, dragging a very heavy cart. On getting infront of Bombarda's, the beast, exhausted and worn out, refused to goany further, and this incident produced a crowd. The carter, swearingand indignant, had scarce time to utter with the suitable energy thesacramental word, "Rascal!" backed up by a pitiless lash, ere the poorbeast fell, never to rise again. Tholomy?s' gay hearers turned theirheads away on noticing the confusion, while he wound up his speech bythe following sad strophe,--
"Elle ?tait de ce monde o? coucous et carrosses, Ont le m?me destin, Et, rosse, elle a v?cu ce que vivent les rosses, L'espace d'un: M?tin!"
"Poor horse!" Fantine said with a sigh; and Dahlia shouted,--
"Why, here is Fantine beginning to feel pity for horses: how can she besuch a fool!"
At this moment, Favourite crossed her arms and threw her head back; shethen looked boldly at Tholomy?s, and said,--
"Well, how about the surprise?"
"That is true, the hour has arrived," Tholomy?s answered. "Gentlemen,it is time to surprise the ladies. Pray wait for us a moment."
"It begins with a kiss," said Blacheve.
"On the forehead," Tholomy?s added.
Each solemnly kissed the forehead of his mistress: then they proceededto the door in Indian file, with a finger on their lip. Favouriteclapped her hands as they went out.
"It is amusing already," she said.
"Do not be long," Fantine murmured, "we are waiting for you."