A Little Dinner at Timminss | Page 9

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 of veal, and a ham."
"You can't serve a leg of veal at a party," said Mrs. Gashleigh; "and a leg of beef is not a company dish."
"Madame, they are to make the stock of the clear soup," Mr. Cavalcadour said.
"WHAT!" cried Mrs. Gashleigh; and the cook repeated his former expression.
"Never, whilst I am in this house," cried out Mrs. Gashleigh, indignantly; "never in a Christian ENGLISH household; never shall such sinful waste be permitted by ME. If you wish me to dine, Rosa, you must get a dinner less EXPENSIVE. The Right Honorable Lord Fortyskewer could dine, sir, without these wicked luxuries, and I presume my daughter's guests can."
"Madame is perfectly at liberty to decide," said M. Cavalcadour. "I came to oblige Madame and my good friend Mirobolant, not myself."
"Thank you, sir, I think it WILL be too expensive," Rosa stammered in a great flutter; "but I am very much obliged to you."
"Il n'y a point d'obligation, Madame," said Monsieur Alcide Camille Cavalcadour in his most superb manner; and, making a splendid bow to the lady of the house, was respectfully conducted to the upper regions by little Buttons, leaving Rosa frightened, the cook