Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/74

 chess, and there, as was, alas! often the case, forgot the engagement and his better self. "Il s'absintha—lisez s'absenta." Such was the joke made at his expense next day.

Alfred addressed some stanzas to her on this occasion; they were never, however, sent, and were found among his papers long afterwards:—

When they met again it was at a supper given by Buloz, editor of the Revue des Deux Mondes. Alfred wrote to his brother, then in Italy:—

February 1843.

I add a few lines to my mother's letter in answer to your question. I dined at Buloz on Shrove Thursday. All the Review was there, with Rachel as outsider. It was as stiff as a diplomatic dinner. Henri Heine found the bean, but pretended not to know what was expected of him, so that the cake which was to have been the great