It was about eleven o'clock at night when they arrived at Senlis,
which was the place at which they proposed to lodge, and where they
were obliged to knock up the people of the inn, before they could
have their supper prepared. All the provision in the house was but
barely sufficient to furnish one indifferent meal: however, the
painter consoled himself for the quantity with the quality of the
dishes, one of which was a fricassee of rabbit, a preparation that
he valued above all the dainties that ever smoked upon the table
of the sumptuous Heliogabalus.
He had no sooner expressed himself to this effect, than our hero,
who almost incessantly laying traps for diversion at his neighbour's
expense, laid hold on the declaration; and, recollecting the story
of Scipio and the muleteer in Gil Blas, resolved to perpetrate a
joke upon the stomach of Pallet, which seemed well disposed to a
hearty supper. He, accordingly, digested his plan; and the company
being seated at table, affected to stare with peculiar eagerness
at the painter, who had helped himself to a large portion of the
fricassee, and began to swallow it with infinite relish.
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