The Abbé.-What did your ladyship think of the last sermon ? Did you hear it? Baroness. It is green and pink on a black ground, like the little article upstairs. The Abbé.-What did you say? Baroness.-Oh! pray excuse me, I was not attending. Baroness.-Oh, yes! quite so. Everybody was crying; the Baron did nothing but blow his nose. I went away in the middle because the lady next me had scent about her, and that just now I am in the hands of the homœopaths. The Master.-Mademoiselle, all I say is to no purpose. You do not dance the counter figure to me. Pray turn your head slightly on one side, and round your arms. Cecilia.-But, sir, unless you want to fall, you must look straight before you. Master.-Nonsense, nonsense; it really is horrible. Now, observe, is anything easier or simpler than this? Do I fall? You walk to the right, you look to the left; you go to the left, and look to the right. Is anything more natural ? Baroness It is a most inconceivable thing that I can't find my yellow ball. Cecilia.-Mamma, why will you not let me learn the valse à deux temps? Baroness.-Because it is unbecoming. The Wandering Jew? Have you read Abbé.-Yes, my lady; there are beautiful lines in it, but the groundwork I must confess is . Baroness. It is a black ground-the whole of the little article is; you will see it when it is mounted on rosewood. Cecilia. But, mamma dear, Miss Clary valses very nicely, and so does Mademoiselle de Raimbaut. Baroness.-Miss Clary is English, mademoiselle. I am sure, abbé, that you are sitting on Abbé.-I, my lady, sitting on Miss Clary? Baroness.-No. I mean my ball of worsted. Oh! there it is no, that is the red one. Where can it have gone to? The Abbé. I think several scenes very beautiful. shows genius certainly, decidedly cleverness and facility. All Cécile. Mais, maman, de ce qu'on est Anglaise, p est-ce décent de valser? La Baronne.-Il y a aussi un roman nouveau que qu'on m'a envoyé de chez Charpentier; je ne sais nom, ni de qui c'était. L'avez-vous lu? C'est assez écrit. L'Abbé.-Oui, madame. Il me semble qu'on ouv grille. Attendez vous quelque visite ? La Baronne.-Ah! c'est vrai. Cécile, écoutez. Le Maître de Danse.-Madame la Baronne veut vous p mademoiselle. L'Abbé. Je ne vois pas entrer de voiture; ce sont chevaux qui vont sortir. Cécile.-Vous m'avez appelée, maman? La Baronne.-Non. Ah! oui. Il va venir quelqu Baissez-vous donc que je vous parle à l'oreille. parti. Etes-vous coiffée ? Cécile.-Un parti? C'est La Baronne.-Oui, très-convenable, vingt-cinq à trente a ou plus jeune; non, je n'en sais rien; mais il est très bie allez danser. Cécile. Mais, maman, je voulais vous dire .... La Baronne. C'est incroyable où est allé ce peloton. n'en ai qu'un de jaune, et il faut qu'il s'envole. 9. POLICE CORRECTIONNELLE. Un Système de Compensation. Une Maître de Garni dépose.-Je louais une chambre à la femme Chantrin; elle faisait son ménage elle-même, si bien que je n'avais qu'à monter chez elle pour changer les draps de lit tous les mois. Au bout de quelques jours, ne la voyant pas rentrer je monte à sa chambre et je ne trouve plus les draps du lit; elle les avait emportés. M. le Président (à la prévenue).—Vous reconnaissez avoir emporté ces draps? Cecilia. But, mamma, dear, why does being English make waitzing proper? Baroness.-There is another novel, too, that I have been reading which was sent to me from Charpentier's. I do not remember the name of it, nor who wrote it. Have you read it? It was very well written. The Abbé.-Yes, my lady. It seems to me that they are opening the carriage gates. Are you expecting any one? Baroness.-Oh! yes, of course. Cecilia, listen to me. Master. Her ladyship wishes to speak to you, mademoiselle. The Abbé.—I see no carriage coming in; it is some horses which are going out. Cecilia. Did you call me, mamma ? Baroness.-No-yes, here. Some one is coming. Stoop Is your hair done? down, so that I can whisper something to you. It is a gentleman who wishes to marry you. Cecilia.-A gentleman to marry me! Baroness.-Yes, a very suitable match, from twenty-five to thirty, or younger. No, I know nothing for certain. All right, go and dance. Cecilia. But, mamma, I should like to say something to you. Baroness.-A very suitable match. Where can that ball have gone to? I have only one yellow one, and that must go and run away. 9. POLICE COURT. A System of Compensation. A Lodging-house Keeper.-I used to let a furnished apartment to Mrs. Chantrin.* She swept and cleaned her own room, so that I only had to go up once a month just to change the sheets. On one occasion, not seeing her return after a few days, I went up to her room and found the sheets were gone; she had carried them off. The President (to the prisoner).-You own to having carried off the sheets? * Law Court terms:-La femme une telle, married woman so-andso; la fille une telle, unmarried woman so-and-so; le sieur un tel, the man so-and-so, Mr. 6 La Prévenue.- Oui, monsieur. M. le Président.-Qu'en avez-vous fait ? Vous les avez vendus? Engagés au Mont de Piété ? * La Prévenue.-Non, monsieur, j'en ai fait des sacs. La Prévenue.-Je suis ouvrière en sacs. M. le Président.-Ah! bien! alors vous avez vendu les sacs? La Prévenue.-Oui, monsieur. Un marchand de sacs en gros vient déposer.―J'avais femme Chantrin comme ouvrière confectionneuse de sacs. Je lui avais confié de la toile, elle l'a détournée. M. le Président (à la prévenue).—Vous avez vendu ces sacs faits avec la toile du témoin comme ceux faits avec les draps de votre lit ? La Prévenue.-Non, monsieur. M. le Président. -Alors qu'avez-vous fait de cette toile ? La Prévenue.-Monsieur, ayant amassé, avec les sacs que je vendais, une petite somme M. le Président.-Les sacs faits avec les draps des garnis dans lesquels vous logiez, car vous preniez les draps de tous vos garnis? La Prévenue. J'en ai pris dans plusieurs,―oui. M. le Président.-Continuez. La Prévenue. Alors, ayant amassé de quoi m'acheter un lit, une table, et deux chaises, je me suis mise dans mes meubles. M. le Président.-Cela ne nous dit pas ce que vous avez fait de la toile qu'on vous avait confiée pour confectionner des sacs. La Prévenue. Je m'en suis fait des draps de lit. M. le Président.—Ah! ainsi vous voliez des draps de lit pour faire des sacs, et de la toile à sac vous vous en faites des draps de lit. (Vive hilarité de l'auditoire.) Singulière manière de rétablir les choses. Vous êtes condamnée à un an de prison. Conclusion.-Des sacs faits de draps de lit doivent rapporter plus que des draps intacts, autrement elle aurait * Institution d'origine italienne, grâce à laquelle on peut emprunter à l'état de l'argent sur un gage déposé dans un bureau à cet effet. The Prisoner.-Yes, sir. The President.-What did you do with them? You sold them, I suppose, or pawned them?* The Prisoner.-No, sir. I made sacks of them. The President.-Sacks? The Prisoner.-I am a sackmaker by trade. The President.-Oh! then you sold the sacks? The Prisoner.-Yes, sir. Here a wholesale sack dealer gives his evidence.—The prisoner was in my employ as a sack woman. I had entrusted her with sacking, and she made away with it. The President (to the prisoner).—You sold these sacks made with the witness's sackcloth, as you did those made out of your bedding? The Prisoner.- No, sir. The President. Then what did you do with the stuff? The Prisoner.-Please, your honour, having collected, with the sacks I sold, a little sum ... The President.-From the sacks made out of the bedding of your different lodgings, for you used to take the sheets from all the places you lived in? The Prisoner.- I did take them from a few,—yes. The Prisoner.-Well, then, having collected enough to buy myself a bedstead, a table and two chairs, I set myself up. The President.—Well, but that does not inform us what you did with the canvas which was given you to make the sacks. The Prisoner.-Well, I made sheets with it. The President.-Oh! oh! So you purloined sheets to make sacks with, and of the sackcloth you make sheets. (Laughter.) An odd way of squaring matters. You are sentenced to one year's imprisonment. Conclusion.-Sacks made of sheeting fetch more than uncut sheets, otherwise she would have saved time in *The Mont de Piété, an Italian institution introduced into France for lending money on the depositing of goods on pledge. |