This was Blake's opportunity--the opportunity loved beyond all others of the Irishman, when it is permissible to offer hospitality. The idea came to him as an inspiration, and was seized upon as such. Eager as a boy, he laid one hand on Max's shoulder, the other on that of M. Cartel.
'He had a suggestion to make! One that admitted of no refusal! M. Cartel had entertained them regally; he must suffer them to make some poor return. There was a certain little _café_ where the _chef_ knew his business and the wine really was wine--' He looked from one face to another for approval, and perhaps it was but natural that his eyes should rest last and longest on the face of Max.
So it was arranged. A dinner is a question readily dealt with in the quarter of Montmartre, and soon the four--laughing, talking, arguing--were hurrying down the many steps of the Escalier de Sainte-Marie, bent upon the enjoyment of the hour.
They dined with a full measure of satisfaction; for with his invitation to a feast, your Parisian accepts an obligation to bring forth his best in gayety, in conversation, in good-will; and it might well have happened that Blake, spending ten times as much money upon guests of his own world, might have lacked the glow, the sense of success, that filled him in the giving of this dinner to an unknown musician and a little blonde-haired _Montmartroise_.
They dined; and then, because the winds were still wintry and coffee could not yet be sipped outside _café_ doors, they betook themselves to the little theatre of the 'Trianon Lyrique' on the Boulevard Rochechouart, where for an infinitesimal sum the _bourgeoisie_ may sit in the stalls and hear light opera conscientiously sung.
As it was a gala evening, Blake reserved a box, and the little Jacqueline sat in the place of honor, neat and dainty to the point of perfection, with a small black jacket fitting closely to her figure, and a bunch of violets, costing ten centimes, pinned coquettishly into her lace _jabot_. They sat through the performance in a happy mood of toleration, applauding whenever applause might be bestowed, generously silent when anything tempted adverse criticism; and between the acts they smoked and drank liqueurs in company with the good Montmartre shopkeepers--the soldiers--the young clerks and the young girls who formed the crowd in the lounge.