Page:Verlaine - Œuvres posthumes, Messein, II.djvu/407

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critique et conférences

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to be received into the Acadamy by Alexandre Dumas the younger) was once dining with his son on a very hot suramer day in the small garden, when even the flowers were wretchedly drooping, and he opened the window of the house in order to get some fresh air. As I have never been in the house I cannot vouch for the authenticity of the story, but I can certify as to the small size of the residence : it was nicely appointed and prettily furnished, as I knew through catching a passing glimpse when slackening pace at that part of the trottoir of the Rue de Boulogne now called Rue Ballu. I can still remember seeing the ever lively and vivacious occupier walking up and down the room which looked on to the street and occasionally going out for a walk, or returning to lunch. He was then a man of about thirty years of age, tall, his face had rather a creole appearance, but it gradually became more Europeanised until at last he became the fine old Parisian of late days : well formed, rather thin, and a fast walker. In a word, his appearance was that of a vigorous man, and one who would be considered as a serious nature. At the time about which we are speaking he was already the famous author of the Dame aux Camélias, this Manon Lescaut, who it seems really existed, and who was cer-