pleasures. His affairs are numerous, for he is in
partnership with a club cashier, a bookmaker, and
a horse photographer, and he has three horses in
training near Chantilly. Nor are his pleasures
lacking; the most famous little women know the
way to the Rue Euler, where, on days when they
happen to be short, they are sure to find a cup of
tea and five louis.
In the evening, after having shown himself at the Ambassadeurs, at the Cirque, and at the Olympia, very correct in his silk-faced dress-coat, Edgar repairs to the Ancien, and there spends a long time in getting drunk, in the company of coachmen who assume the airs of gentlemen, and of gentlemen who assume the airs of coachmen.
And every time that William told me one of these stories he concluded, with a voice of admiring wonder:
"Oh! this Edgar! there is a man for you, indeed!"
My masters belonged to what it is agreed to call the high society of Paris; that is to say, Monsieur was a penniless nobleman, and nobody knew exactly where Madame came from. Many stories were afloat regarding her origin, each more dis- agreeable than the others. William, very familiar with the scandals of high society, pretended that the madame was the daughter of an old coachman
