a scrubby beard, gave me an encouraging wink. The next instant we were
abreast of each other. Swish! went the coiled line, and with a half
hitch he had it fast around a stanchion. The little boat reared out of
the water as the rope straightened taut and I jumped for the rudder.
We were off for Rouen.
As we danced past the town of Les Andelys the captain gathered a small
bouquet of mignonette from his cabin garden, crawled to the limit of
his great rudder, and with the aid of a boat-hook passed the bouquet to
me.
“For madame with my compliments,” he shouted; “_Vive les voyageurs!_”
[Illustration]
ENVOI
From my window this morning the world goes by. The _vieux marcheur_ and
the young _cocotte_, a _patisserie_ boy with a truffled duck, and the
smart coupé of Elise.
Bright shines the sun, the asphalt steams, and the gutters flash in
ripples. The narrow street is blocked to the doors of expensive
_boutiques_, whose windows hold treasures of jewels, of lace and a
million things from the frailest _peignoir_ to the latest _chapeau_, at
ridiculous prices that open the eyes of the _vieux monsieur_, and half
close those of Cora—in a satisfied smile.
“Come, come, _mon cher_! how about my _chapeau_?”
“_Si tu veux_,” he consents, and the bargain is made.
At the bend of the byway an acre of roses in white paper jackets flame
in the sun, and gay _boutonnières_ of fragrant posies are tucked in
lapels of passing gallants.
A hearse crawls by—poor Ninette! you have gone. Can you still hear, I
wonder, the crash of the band, the swinging waltz in the whirling room?
It is François, dear, who has sent you the roses—the drooping roses
that cover your tomb.
It is noon and the bells are ringing.
“Why do they toll, monsieur?... For Ninette?”
“A marriage, you say? Ah! thank you.”
“I’ll wager some Count will espouse for a dot.
“Come, Marie and Gaston, Pierre and Paulette, let us go to the wedding.
Ten sous’ worth of wine. To the health of the bride!
“What say you, Harlequin, you who have known this Paris of Pleasure,
this Paris of Leisure, this Paris of Fun? Is it true, my surmise?”
“_Mon vieux_,” cries Marie, “stop and think. Don’t you know why they’re
ringing? Mimi La Belle is to marry the Duke!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_Charles Dana Gibson says_: “It is like a trip to Paris.”
THE REAL LATIN QUARTER OF PARIS
By F. Berkeley Smith
Racy sketches of the innermost life and characters of the famous
Bohemia of Paris—its grisettes, students, models, balls, studios,
cafes, etc.
_John W. Alexander_: “It is the real thing.”
_Frederick Remington_: “You have left nothing undone.”
_Ernest Thompson Seton_: “A true picture of the Latin Quarter as I knew
it.”
_Frederick Dielman_, President National Academy of Design: “Makes the
Latin Quarter very real and still invests it with interest and charm.”
_Evening Telegraph_, Philadelphia: “A captivating book.”
_Boston Times_: “A genuine treat.”
_The Argonaut_, San Francisco: “A charming volume. Mr. Smith does not
fail to get at the intimate secrets, the subtle charm of the real Latin
Quarter made famous by Henry Merger and Du Maurier.”
_The Mail and Express_, New York: “When you have read this book you
know the ‘Real Latin Quarter’ as well as you will ever come to know it
without living there yourself.”
_Boston Herald_: “It pictures the Latin Quarter in its true light.”
--------------
_Water-Color Frontispiece by F. Hopkinson Smith. About 100 original
drawings and camera snap shots by the Author, and two caricatures in
color by the celebrated French caricaturist Sancha, Ornamental
Covers, 12mo. Cloth, Price, $1.20, net. Postage, 13 Cents._
------------------------------------
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, PUBLISHERS,
NEW YORK & LONDON
Transcriber's Note
Some presumed printer's errors have been corrected, including
normalizing punctuation. This book contains many French words with
incorrect accents and/or ligatures. When at least one instance of a
word occurs in the book in which accents and/or ligatures are correctly
used, all incorrect versions of the same word have been corrected. When
the word was consistently spelled incorrectly or when it appeared only
once, no correction was made. Further corrections are listed below with
the printed text (top) and corrected text (bottom):
Bastile
Bastille (p. 56)
arcoss
across (p. 58)
Berkely
Berkeley (p. 193)
End of Project Gutenberg's How Paris Amuses Itself, by F. Berkeley Smith