CHAPTER II

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My introduction to the celebrities of the day -- The Cafe de Paris -- The old Prince Demidoff -- The old man's mania -- His sons -- The furniture and attendance at the Cafe de Paris -- Its high prices -- A mot of Alfred de Musset -- The cuisine -- A rebuke of the proprietor to Balzac -- A version by one of his predecessors of the cause of Vatel's suicide -- Some of the _habitues_ -- Their intercourse with the attendants -- Their courteous behaviour towards one another -- Le veau a la casserole -- What Alfred de Musset, Balzac, and Alexandre Dumas thought of it -- A silhouette of Alfred de Musset -- His brother Paul on his election as a member of the Academie -- A silhouette of Balzac, between sunset and sunrise -- A curious action against the publishers of an almanack -- A full-length portrait of Balzac -- His pecuniary embarrassments -- His visions of wealth and speculations -- His constant neglect of his duties as a National Guard -- His troubles in consequence thereof -- L'Hotel des Haricots -- Some of his fellow-prisoners -- Adam, the composer of "Le Postillon de Lonjumeau" -- Eugene Sue; his portrait -- His dandyism -- The origin of the Paris Jockey Club -- Eugene Sue becomes a member -- The success of "Les Mysteres de Paris" -- The origin of "Le Juif-Errant" -- Sue makes himself objectionable to the members of the Jockey Club -- His name struck off the list -- His decline and disappearance 24

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