"No, I won't!"

"Ah! we'll see about that, you little rascal!"

Madame Capucine left the table, seized Cherami's switch, which was standing in a corner, and advanced upon her son; but young Narcisse, when he saw what he was threatened with, began to run around the table, thus compelling his mother, still armed with the formidable switch, to run after him, striking blindly in every direction. Thinking that she was chastising her son, she twice brought the switch down on Cherami's shoulders, who found the manoeuvre executed by the stout woman and her son far from amusing, although it reminded him somewhat of a circus performance.

At last, seeing that he was on the point of being captured, Narcisse changed his tactics, and slipped under the table. Madame Capucine, although disconcerted for a moment by this evolution, soon found a way to profit by it; she thrust her switch under the table, striking at random to right and left. Thereupon, the old aunt began to cry out: her niece was switching her legs. Luckily, Cherami succeeded in pulling Narcisse out from under the table; he was forced to stand in front of Madame Duponceau; and his mother stationed herself by his side, with her stick in the air, saying in a threatening tone:

"Your poetry, quick!"

Master Narcisse, although still in the sulks, decided to obey, and muttered in a drawling voice:

"'Ah! que je suis--Ah! que je suis donc content!

De vous--de vous--de vous----'"

"_De vous_, what, idiot?"

"I forget."

"You just wait, and I'll freshen your memory, you bad boy!"

"'De vous feter, objet charmant----'"

"It can't be _objet charmant!_ I know that's wrong."

"Why do you think it can't be _objet charmant_, niece, I should like to know?" said Madame Duponceau, pursing up her lips.

"Because, aunt, I am perfectly sure it's something else."

"In my judgment," interposed Cherami, "_objet charmant_ should be allowed to remain; the expression is most appropriate."

The old aunt was so delighted by the compliment, that she left her seat and embraced her guest again.

"That will teach me to hold my tongue!" said Cherami to himself.

"Come, monsieur; go on with your poetry," continued Madame Capucine.

"'De vous--de vous--feter en ce moment,'"

began Narcisse.

"You see!" cried Madame Capucine; "I knew it wasn't _objet charmant._"

"It's hardly worth while to interrupt just for that, niece. Go on, my boy."

But young Aristoloche had entered the dining-room, holding in his arms a little white rabbit, which he was tickling with a stick. That spectacle sadly distracted the attention of Master Narcisse, whom his mother continued to threaten with the switch to make him finish his lines. But Narcisse, as he recited, kept turning to look at his brother.

"'Quand je me trouve a votre table--a votre table----'

I'll fix you, if you don't give me the rabbit when I get through."

"No, they gave the rabbit to me--see!"

"'a votre table--a votre table-- Ah! que le temps----'

I'll box your ears----

'est agreable!'"

"Mamma, brother says he'll lick me!"

"Don't listen to him, darling; he's the one who'll be licked, if he doesn't say his poetry better for his aunt. Come, Monsieur Narcisse."

"'Voulez-vous lire dans mon coeur----'

Wait till you want my battledore again!"

"I don't want it; papa'll give me another."

"'Dans mon coeur----'

Let Coco go."

"No, I won't let him go."

"All right; I'll fix you in a minute----

'Dans mon coeur--vous y verrez mon ardeur.'"

"You said that as badly as you could, monsieur! but you'll have to say it better at breakfast to-morrow."

"Oh! mamma, mamma; he's trying to take Coco away from me."

Narcisse, having finished his congratulations, had run after his brother and was trying to obtain possession of the rabbit; Madame Capucine, to put an end to the dispute, turned her elder son out of the dining-room, with an accompaniment of kicks in the posterior; then returned to her seat beside Cherami.

"And, after all," she said, "my husband didn't come!"

"And he probably won't come now, for it's almost nine o'clock. I am very sorry for that; I wanted to speak to him."

"About that little bill? Oh! there's no hurry about that."

"It was about something else."

"Well, I am going to have a very uncomfortable night of it. You must know that I'm very timid in the country. It's foolish of me, I know that well enough; for nothing ever happens to my aunt, who lives here alone with her servant; but what can I do? one can't control those things.

When my husband's in bed beside me, that gives me courage, and I can sleep a little. But without him--why, I can't close my eyes. If we only had a man in the house; but nothing but women and children! What would become of us if we should be attacked?"

"What's the meaning of this attempt to entrap me?" thought Cherami, stroking his whiskers; "I can see myself pa.s.sing the night here, to eat more rabbit to-morrow morning! On the contrary, I can't be off soon enough."

"Well, Monsieur Cherami," continued Madame Capucine, with a tender glance at her neighbor, "do you refuse to watch over us to-night? You are your own master; what is there to prevent you from sleeping here? If you would, I should feel perfectly safe, and I should have a quiet night. There's a guest-chamber just opposite mine."