Seize, I beg of you, my whole
thought--"
He took up a hat, low-crowned and wide-brimmed.
"This," he continued, "is the old hat of Claude Vignon, a great
critic, in the days when he was a free man and a free-liver. He has
lately come round to the ministry; they've made him a professor, a
librarian; he writes now for the Debats only; they've appointed him
Master of Petitions with a salary of sixteen thousand francs; he earns
four thousand more out of his paper, and he is decorated. Well, now
see his new hat."
And Vital showed them a hat of a form and design which was truly
expressive of the juste-milieu.
"You ought to have made him a Punch and Judy hat!" cried Gazonal.
"You are a man of genius, Monsieur Vital," said Leon.
Vital bowed.
"Would you kindly tell me why the shops of your trade in Paris remain
open late at night,--later than the cafes and the wineshops? That fact
puzzles me very much," said Gazonal.
"In the first place, our shops are much finer when lighted up than
they are in the daytime; next, where we sell ten hats in the daytime
we sell fifty at night."
"Everything is queer in Paris," said Leon.
"Thanks to my efforts and my successes," said Vital, returning to the
course of his self-laudation, "we are coming to hats with round
headpieces.
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