A Little Dinner at Timminss | Page 9

the great Mirobolant, and was one of
those who voted against the decreasing of Mirobolant's salary, when
the measure was proposed by Mr. Parings, Colonel Close, and the

Screw party in the committee of the club.
Faithful to the promise of his great master, the youthful Cavalcadour
called in Lilliput Street the next day. A rich crimson velvet waistcoat,
with buttons of blue glass and gold, a variegated blue satin stock, over
which a graceful mosaic chain hung in glittering folds, a white hat
worn on one side of his long curling ringlets, redolent with the most
delightful hair-oil--one of those white hats which looks as if it had been
just skinned--and a pair of gloves not exactly of the color of beurre frais,
but of beurre that has been up the chimney, with a natty cane with a gilt
knob, completed the upper part at any rate, of the costume of the young
fellow whom the page introduced to Mrs. Timmins.
Her mamma and she had been just having a dispute about the
gooseberry-cream when Cavalcadour arrived. His presence silenced
Mrs. Gashleigh; and Rosa, in carrying on a conversation with him in
the French language--which she had acquired perfectly in an elegant
finishing establishment in Kensington Square--had a great advantage
over her mother, who could only pursue the dialogue with very much
difficulty, eying one or other interlocutor with an alarmed and
suspicious look, and gasping out "We" whenever she thought a proper
opportunity arose for the use of that affirmative.
"I have two leetl menus weez me," said Cavalcadour to Mrs. Gashleigh.
"Minews--yes,--oh, indeed?" answered the lady.
"Two little cartes."
"Oh, two carts! Oh, we," she said. "Coming, I suppose?" And she
looked out of the window to see if they were there.
Cavalcadour smiled. He produced from a pocket-book a pink paper and
a blue paper, on which he had written two bills of fare--the last two
which he had composed for the lamented Hauncher--and he handed
these over to Mrs. Fitzroy.
The poor little woman was dreadfully puzzled with these documents,
(she has them in her possession still,) and began to read from the pink
one as follows:--
"DINER POUR 16 PERSONNES.
Potage (clair) a la Rigodon. Do. a la Prince de Tombuctou.
Deux Poissons.
Saumon de Severne Rougets Gratines a la Boadicee. a la Cleopatre.
Deux Releves.

Le Chapeau-a-trois-cornes farci a la Robespierre. Le Tire-botte a
l'Odalisque.
Six Entrees. Saute de Hannetons a l'Epingliere. Cotelettes a la
Megatherium. Bourrasque de Veau a la Palsambleu. Laitances de Carpe
en goguette a la Reine Pomare. Turban de Volaille a l'Archeveque de
Cantorbery."
And so on with the entremets, and hors d'oeuvres, and the rotis, and the
releves.
"Madame will see that the dinners are quite simple," said M.
Cavalcadour.
"Oh, quite!" said Rosa, dreadfully puzzled.
"Which would Madame like?"
"Which would we like, mamma?" Rosa asked; adding, as if after a little
thought, "I think, sir, we should prefer the blue one." At which Mrs.
Gashleigh nodded as knowingly as she could; though pink or blue, I
defy anybody to know what these cooks mean by their jargon.
"If you please, Madame, we will go down below and examine the scene
of operations," Monsieur Cavalcadour said; and so he was marshalled
down the stairs to the kitchen, which he didn't like to name, and
appeared before the cook in all his splendor.
He cast a rapid glance round the premises, and a smile of something
like contempt lighted up his features. "Will you bring pen and ink, if
you please, and I will write down a few of the articles which will be
necessary for us? We shall require, if you please, eight more stew-pans,
a couple of braising-pans, eight saute-pans, six bainmarie-pans, a
freezing-pot with accessories, and a few more articles of which I will
inscribe the names." And Mr. Cavalcadour did so, dashing down, with
the rapidity of genius, a tremendous list of ironmongery goods, which
he handed over to Mrs. Timmins. She and her mamma were quite
frightened by the awful catalogue.
"I will call three days hence and superintend the progress of matters;
and we will make the stock for the soup the day before the dinner."
"Don't you think, sir," here interposed Mrs. Gashleigh, "that one
soup--a fine rich mock-turtle, such as I have seen in the best houses in
the West of England, and such as the late Lord Fortyskewer--"
"You will get what is wanted for the soups, if you please," Mr.
Cavalcadour continued, not heeding this interruption, and as bold as a

captain on his own quarter-deck: "for the stock of clear soup, you will
get a leg of beef, a leg of veal, and a ham."
"We, munseer," said the cook, dropping a terrified curtsy: "a leg of beef,
a leg