Memoirs of a Physician by Alexandre Dumas Page A

you will, call it what you please, but answer categorically.”
    ” Oh ! what a long, ugly adverb, in such a pretty little mouth.”
    ” Do you call that answering, duke ?”
    “No, not exactly ; I call that preparing my answer.”
    “Is it prepared ?”
    “Wait a little.”
    “You hesitate, duke ?”
    ” Oh, no ! “
    ” Well, I am listening.”
    ” What do you think of apologues, countess ? ” * Why, that they are very antiquated.”
    ” Bah ! the sun is antiquated also, and yet we have not invented any better means of seeing.”
    ” Well, let me hear your apologue, then ; but let it be clear. “
    ” As crystal, fair lady. Let us suppose, then, countess you know one always supposes something in an apologue.”
    ” How tiresome you are, duke.”
    ” You do not believe one word of what you say, countess, for you never listened to me more attentively.”
    ” I was wrong, then ; go on.”
    ” Suppose, then, that you were walking in your beautiful garden at Luciennes, and that you saw a magnificent plum, one of those Queen Claudes which you are so fond of because their vermilion and purple tints resemble your own.”
    ” Go on, flatterer.”
    ” Well, I was saying, suppose yon saw one of these plums at the extremity of one of the loftiest branches of the tree, what would you do, countess ? “
    ” I would shake the tree, to be sure.”
    ” Yes, but in vain, for the tree is large and massive, and not to be rooted out, as you said just now ; and you would soon perceive that without even succeeding in shaking it, you would tear your charming little hands against its rough
     
    76 MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN.
    bark. And then you would say, reclining your head to one side, in that adorable manner which belongs only to you and the flowers : * Oh ! how I wish I had this plum upon the ground ! ‘ and then you would get angry.”
    ” That is all very natural, duke.”
    ” I shall certainly not be the person to contradict you.”
    ” Go on, my dear duke, your apologue is exceedingly interesting.”
    ” All at once, when turning your little head from side to side, you perceive your friend, the Duke de Eichelieu, who is walking behind you, thinking.”
    “Of what ?”
    ” What a question ! Pardieu ! of you ; and you say, to him, with your heavenly voice : Oh ! duke ! duke ! ‘ “
    ” Well ? “
    ” ‘You are a man; you are strong, you look Mahon ; shake this devil of a plum-tree for me, that I may pluck this provoking plum ? ‘ Is not that it, countess ? “
    ” Exactly, duke ; I repeated that to myself while you were saying it aloud. But what did you reply ? “
    ” Reply ? Oh ! I replied : ‘ How you run on, countess ! Certainly nothing could give me greater pleasure ; but only look how firm the tree is, how knotty the branches. I have a sort of affection for my hands as well as you, though they are fifty years older than yours “
    “Ah !” said the countess, suddenly, “yes, yes, I comprehend.”
    ” Then finish the apologue. What did you say to me ? “
    ” I said, ‘ My little marshal, do not look with indifferent eyes upon this plum, which you look at indifferently only because it is not for you. Wish for it along with me, ,my dear marshal ; covet it along with me, and if you shake the tree properly, if the plum falls, then we will eat it together “
    ” Bravo ! ” exclaimed the duke, clapping his hands.
    “Is that it?”
    “Faith, countess, there is none like you for finishing an apologue. By mine honor, as my deceased father used to say, it is right well tricked out.”
     
    MEMOIRS OF A PHYSICIAN. 77
    “You will shake the tree, duke ?”
    “With two hands and three hearts, counters.”
    ” And the plum was really a Queen Claude ? “
    ” I am not quite sure of that, countess.*’
    ” What was it, then ? “
    ” Do you know it seemed much more like a portfolio dangling from a tree.”
    “Then we will divide the portfolio.”
    ” Oh, no ! for me alone. Do not envy me the morocco,