"You must be the very devil himself, doctor, for my instinct and reason revolt against your paradoxes. I do not believe one word of your promises, yet it is impossible for me to resist the curious desire to accompany you."
The canon and the abbe followed the doctor, entered his carriage with him, and soon the three arrived at the house occupied by the distinguished physician.
CHAPTER XII.
Doctor Gasterini lived in a charming house in the Faubourg du Roule, where he soon arrived in company with the canon and Abbe Ledoux.
"While we are waiting for dinner, would you like to take a turn in the garden?" said the doctor, to his guests. "That will give me the opportunity to present to you my poor sister"s eight children, my nephews and nieces, whom I have reared and established in the world respectably, entirely by means of gluttony. You see, canon, we still follow our subject."
"What, doctor!" replied the canon, "you have reared a numerous family by means of gluttony?"
"You do not see that the doctor continues to ridicule you!" said the abbe, shrugging his shoulders. "It is too much by far!"
"I give you my word of honour as an honest man," replied Doctor Gasterini, "and besides, I am going to prove to you in a moment, by facts, that if I had not been the greatest gourmand among men, I should never have known how to make for each one of my nephews and nieces the excellent positions which they hold, as worthy, honest, and intelligent labourers, contributing, each in his sphere, to the prosperity of the country."
"So we are really to see people who contribute to the prosperity of the country, and for that we may thank the doctor"s love of eating!" said the canon, with amazement.
"No," cried the abbe, "what confounds me is to hear such absurdities maintained till the last moment, and--" but suddenly interrupting himself, he asked with surprise, as he looked around:
"What is that building, doctor? It looks like shops."
"That is my orangery," replied the doctor, "and to-day, as every year at this time, my birthday, they set up shops here."
"How is that; set up shops, and what for?" asked the abbe.
"Zounds! why, to sell, of course, my dear abbe."
"Sell what? and who is to sell?"
"As to what is sold, you will soon see, and as to the purchasers, why, they are my patrons, who are coming to spend the evening here."
"Really, doctor, I do not comprehend you."
"You know, my dear abbe, that for a long time charity shops have been kept by some of the prettiest women in Paris."
"Ah, yes," replied the abbe; "the proceeds to be given to the poor."
"This is the same; the proceeds of this evening"s sale will be distributed among the poor of my district."
"And who are to keep these shops?" asked the canon.
"My sister"s eight children, Dom Diego. They will sell there, for the charitable purpose I have mentioned, the produce of their own industry.
But come, gentlemen, let us enter, and I shall have the honour of introducing to you my nieces and nephews."
With these words Doctor Gasterini conducted his friends into a vast orangery, where were arranged eight little shops or stalls for the display of wares. The green boxes of a large number of gigantic orange-trees formed the railings and separations of these stalls, so that each one had a ceiling of beautiful foliage.
"Ah, doctor," exclaimed the canon, stopping before the first stall in admiration, "this is magnificent! I have never seen anything like it in my life. It is magic!"
"It is indeed a feast for the eye," said the abbe. "It is unsurpa.s.sed."
Let us see what elicited the just admiration of Doctor Gasterini"s guests. The boxes forming the enclosure of the first stall were ornamented with leaves and flowers; on each of these rustic platforms, covered with moss, a collection of fruits and early vegetables was displayed with rare beauty. Golden pineapples with crowns of green lay above immense baskets of grapes of every shade, from the dark purple cl.u.s.ter of the valley to the transparent red from the mountain vineyards. Pyramids of pears, and apples of the rarest and choicest species, of enormous size and variegated with the brightest colours, reached up to summits of bananas, as golden as if the sun of the tropics had ripened them. Farther on dwarf fig-trees in pots, and covered with violet-coloured figs, stood among a rare collection of autumn melons, Brazil pumpkins, and Spanish and white potatoes. Still farther, little rush baskets of hothouse strawberries contrasted with rosy mushrooms, and enormous truffles as black as ebony, obtained from the hotbed by special culture. Then came the rare and early specimens of the season,--green asparagus and varieties of lettuce.
In the midst of these marvels of the vegetable kingdom, which she herself had grouped in such a charming and picturesque scene, stood a beautiful young woman, elegantly attired in the costume of the peasants living in the neighbourhood of Paris.
"I present to you one of my nieces," said the doctor to his guests, "Juliette Dumont, cultivator of early fruits and vegetables, in the open field and hothouse at Montreuil-sous-Bois."
Then, turning to the young woman, the doctor added:
"My child, tell these gentlemen, please, how many gardeners you and your husband employ in your occupation."
"At least twenty men the whole time, my dear uncle."
"And their salary, my child."
"According to your advice, dear uncle, we give them the fixed price of fifty cents, and a part of our profit, in order to interest them as much as we are in the excellence of the work. We find this arrangement the best in the world, for our gardeners, interested as much as ourselves in the prosperity of our undertaking, labour with great zeal. So this year, their part in the income of the establishment has almost amounted to five francs a day."
"And about how much a year is the whole income, my child?"
"Thanks to our nurseries of fine fruit-trees, we make, dear uncle, from eighty to a hundred thousand francs a year."
"As much as that?" said the abbe.
"Yes, sir," replied the young woman; "and there are many houses in the neighbourhood of Paris and in the provinces whose incomes are larger than ours."
The canon, absorbed in the contemplation of fragrant golden fruits, truffles, and mushrooms, and the first vegetables of the season as luscious as they were rare, gave only a distracted attention to the economics of the conversation, and reluctantly accepted the doctor"s invitation, who said to him:
"Let us pa.s.s to another specimen of the industry of my family, canon, for each one to-day displays his best wares. Now tell me if that jolly fellow over there is not a true artist."
And with these words Doctor Gasterini pointed out the second stall to his guests.
In the middle of an enclosure, carpeted with rushes and seaweeds, three large, white marble tables rose one above the other at an interval of one foot, gradually diminishing in size, like the basins of a fountain.
On these marble slabs, covered with marine herbs, was a fine display of sh.e.l.ls, crustaceans, and the choicest and most delicate sea-fish.
On the first slab was a sort of grotto made of sh.e.l.l-work, in which could be seen mussels and oysters from Marennes, Ostend, and Cancale, fattened at an immense expense in the parks. At the base of this slab lobsters, shrimps, and crabs were slowly crawling, or putting out a feeler from under their thick sh.e.l.ls.
On the second slab, fringed with long seaweeds of a light green colour, were fish of the most diminutive size and exquisite flavour; sardines gleaming like silver, others of ultramarine blue, others still of bright red, and dainty grill fish with backs as white as snow, and rose-coloured bellies.
Finally, on the last and largest of these marble basins lay, here and there, veritable monsters of the sea, enormous turbots, gigantic salmon, formidable sturgeons, and prodigious tunnies.
A young man with sunburnt complexion, and frank, prepossessing countenance, who recalled the features of Captain Horace, smiled complaisantly at this magnificent exhibition of the products of the sea.
"Gentlemen, I present to you my nephew Thomas, patron of fisheries at Etretat," said Doctor Gasterini to his guests, "and you see that his nets do not bring back sand alone."
"I never saw anything in my life more admirable! I never saw more appetising fish!" exclaimed Dom Diego, with enthusiasm. "One could almost eat them raw!"