Faith, it is over two years since I've been drunk," he added, looking
at La Briere.
"Not drunk with wine, you mean," said Butscha, looking keenly at him,
"yes, I can believe that. You get drunk every day on yourself, you
drink in so much praise. Ha, you are handsome, you are a poet, you are
famous in your lifetime, you have the gift of an eloquence that is
equal to your genius, and you please all women,--even my master's
wife. Admired by the finest sultana-valide that I ever saw in my life
(and I never saw but her) you can, if you choose, marry Mademoiselle
de La Bastie. Goodness! the mere inventory of your present advantages,
not to speak of the future (a noble title, peerage, embassy!), is
enough to make me drunk already,--like the men who bottle other men's
wine."
"All such social distinctions," said Canalis, "are of little use
without the one thing that gives them value,--wealth. Here we can talk
as men with men; fine sentiments only do in verse."
"That depends on circumstances," said the dwarf, with a knowing
gesture.
"Ah! you writer of conveyances," said the poet, smiling at the
interruption, "you know as well as I do that 'cottage' rhymes with
'pottage,'--and who would like to live on that for the rest of his
days?"
At table Butscha played the part of Trigaudin, in the "Maison en
loterie," in a way that alarmed Ernest, who did not know the waggery
of a lawyer's office, which is quite equal to that of an atelier.
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