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392 "Oh! your little phiz, your little mouth, your big eyes!"

That night the parents’ basket contained larger and better portions. Of course these worthy people should profit by the feast.

William often spoke to me of Edgar, the celebrated stud-groom of the baron de Borgsheim. He was proud to know him; he admired him almost as much as he admired Cassagnac. Edgar and Cassagnac were the two great enthusiasms of his life. I think it would have been dangerous to joke him about them, or even to discuss them with him. When he came home at night, late, William excused himself by saying to me, "I was with Edgar." It seemed that to be with Edgar constituted not only an excuse, but a glory.

"Why don’t you bring your famous Edgar to dinner, that I may see him?" I asked of him one day.

William was scandalized at this idea, and he declared, loftily: "What! do you imagine that Edgar would dine with simple servants?"

It was from Edgar that William got his incomparable method of polishing his hats. Once, at the Auteuil races, Edgar was approached by the young marquis de Plerin.

"Say, my lad," begged the marquis, "how. do you get your hats?"