"What's the news?" the old bachelor asked the barber, as he took his seat in the chair and put on his towel.
"What news, Monsieur Sauvageon! Peste! we have some very peculiar, very interesting people in town!"
"Those two strangers, those doctors who arrived at the Tête-Noire last night, have been making experiments already."
"It's an absolute fact; I got it from Jérôme, the servant at the inn, who saw it and heard it."
"The somnambulist began his nocturnal expeditions last night."
"Nocturnal expeditions at night! Are these somnambulists nyctalopes?"
"Yes, monsieur, they're nycta--What do you call it, Monsieur Sauvageon?"
"They're nyctalopes, for sure.--What does nyctalopes mean?"
"Oh! I understand! they're like cats; in fact, somnambulists are as smart as cats in the dark.--But to return to this one at the Tête-Noire, you must know that he tells everything anybody's done; and last night he discovered something that was hidden from all eyes!"
"I understand! he discovered some intrigue."[B]
[B] _Le pot aux roses_; lit. the jar of roses.
"Well, not exactly that! His companion had a pain in the night--he was doubled up with colic caused by his supper."
"And perhaps by some badly prepared dish, or a half-scoured saucepan; for the entertainment is not first-class at the Tête-Noire; I once ate a _fricandeau_ there that lay on my stomach three days, because it was seasoned with nutmeg, which always makes me ill. Nutmeg in a fricandeau! You must agree that that is perfectly horrible!"
"True, that inn doesn't deserve its reputation; for at my sister's wedding party, which was held there----"
"The one who married Lagripe, the sub-prefect's indoor man--you know? the little man with blue eyes and a red nose?"
"Oh, yes! the father of the child the little sempstress opposite had."
"Oh! as to that, I don't believe a word of it! It's all made up by evil-tongued gossips."
"Look out, my friend, you are cutting me."
"That's nothing; it was a bit of straw on your cheek, that caught the razor.--You must know that if Lagripe had got the sempstress with child, my sister wouldn't have married him."
"Why not, pray? Between ourselves, my good fellow, your sister----"
"What's that? what do you mean, Monsieur Sauvageon?"