Before very long, the master went away; Corporal John (who was already a sort of young master) followed on his heels; and the rank and file were naturally relieved by their departure.  We were now among equals; the bottle passed, the conversation sped.  I think I can still hear the Stennis brothers pour forth their copious tirades; Dijon, my portly French fellow-student, drop witticisms well-conditioned like himself; and another (who was weak in foreign languages) dash hotly into the current of talk with some “Je trove que pore oon sontimong de delicacy, Corot ...,” or some “Pour moi Corot est le plou ...,” and then, his little raft of French foundering at once, scramble silently to shore again.  He at least could understand; but to Pinkerton, I think the noise, the wine, the sun, the shadows of the leaves, and the esoteric glory of being seated at a foreign festival, made up the whole available means of entertainment.

We sat down about half past eleven; I suppose it was two when, some point arising and some particular picture being instanced, an adjournment to the Louvre was proposed.  I paid the score, and in a moment we were trooping down the Rue de Renne.  It was smoking hot; Paris glittered with that superficial brilliancy which is so agreeable to the man in high spirits, and in moods of dejection so depressing; the wine sang in my ears, it danced and brightened in my eyes.  The pictures that we saw that afternoon, as we sped briskly and loquaciously through the immortal galleries, appear to me, upon a retrospect, the loveliest of all; the comments we exchanged to have touched the highest mark of criticism, grave or gay.

It was only when we issued again from the museum that a difference of race broke up the party.  Dijon proposed an adjournment to a cafe, there to finish the afternoon on beer; the elder Stennis, revolted at the thought, moved for the country, a forest if possible, and a long walk.  At once the English speakers rallied to the name of any exercise:  even to me, who have been often twitted with my sedentary habits, the thought of country air and stillness proved invincibly attractive.  It appeared, upon investigation, we had just time to hail a cab and catch one of the fast trains for Fontainebleau.  Beyond the clothes we stood in, all were destitute of what is called (with dainty vagueness) personal effects; and it was earnestly mooted, on the other side, whether we had not time to call upon the way and pack a satchel?  But the Stennis boys exclaimed upon our effeminacy.  They had come from London, it appeared, a week before with nothing but greatcoats and tooth-brushes.  No baggage—­there was the secret of existence.  It was expensive, to be sure; for every time you had to comb your hair, a barber must be paid, and every time you changed your linen, one shirt must be bought and another thrown away; but anything was better (argued these young gentlemen) than to be the slaves of haversacks.  “A fellow has to get rid gradually of all material