"I believe you, my boy--when it is necessary; then he is my Lord Dumoulin, as large as life.He rolls his eyes, walks with his head on one side, and his toes turned in; but, when the piece is played out, he slips away to the balls of which he is so fond.The girls christened him Ninny Moulin.Add, that he drinks like a fish, and you have the photo of the cove.All this doesn't prevent his writing for the religious newspapers; and the saints, whom he lets in even oftener than himself, are ready to swear by him.You should see his articles and his tracts--
only see, not read!--every page is full of the devil and his horns, and the desperate fryings which await your impious revolutionists--and then the authority of the bishops, the power of the Pope--hang it! how could I know it all? This toper, Ninny Moulin, gives good measure enough for their money!"
"The fact is, that he is both a heavy drinker and a heavy swell.How he rattled on with little Rose-Pompon in the dance and the full-blown tulip!"
"And what a rum chap he looked in his Roman helmet and top-boots."
"Rose-Pompon dances divinely, too; she has the poetic twist."
"And don't show her heels a bit!"
"Yes; but the Bacchanal Queen is six thousand feet above the level of any common leg-shaker.I always come back to her step last night in the full-blown tulip."
"It was huge!"
"It was serene!"
"If I were father of a family, I would entrust her with the education of my sons!"
"It was that step, however, which offended the bobby's modesty."
"The fact is, it was a little free."
"Free as air--so the policeman comes up to her, and says: `Well, my Queen, is your foot to keep on a-goin' up forever?' `No, modest warrior!'
replies the Queen; `I practice the step only once every evening, to be able to dance it when I am old.I made a vow of it, that you might become an inspector.'"
"What a comic card!"
"I don't believe she will remain always with Sleepinbuff."