[Footnote 13: Dialect spoken in Algeria and the Levant--a mixture of
Arabian, French, Italian and Spanish.]
"I only mention in passing the lunch at the Tuileries, the visits in
the evening to the Museum, to the Hotel de Ville, to the Imperial
Printing Press. Each time, the Tuareg inscribed their names in the
registry of the place they were visiting. It was interminable. To give
you an idea, here is the complete name of Sheik Otham alone:
Otham-ben-el-Hadj-el-Bekri-ben-el-Hadj-el-Faqqi-ben-Mohammad-Bouya-
ben-si-Ahmed-es-Souki-ben-Mahmoud.[14] [Footnote 14: I have succeeded in finding on the registry of the Imperial Printing Press the names of the Tuareg chiefs and those who
accompanied them on their visit, M. Henry Duveyrier and the Count
Bielowsky. (Note by M. Leroux.)] "And there were five of them like that!
"I maintained my good humor, however, because on the boulevards,
everywhere, our success was colossal. At the Café de Paris, at
six-thirty, it amounted to frenzy. The delegation, a little drunk,
embraced me: 'Bono, Napoléon, bono, Eugénie; bono, Casimir; bono,
Christians.' Gramont-Caderousse and Viel-Castel were already in booth
number eight, with Anna Grimaldi, of the Folies Dramatiques, and
Hortense Schneider, both beautiful enough to strike terror to the
heart. But the palm was for my dear Clémentine, when she entered. I
must tell you how she was dressed: a gown of white tulle, over China
blue tarletan, with pleatings, and ruffles of tulle over the
pleatings. The tulle skirt was caught up on each side by garlands of
green leaves mingled with rose clusters. Thus it formed a valence
which allowed the tarletan skirt to show in front and on the sides.
The garlands were caught up to the belt and, in the space between
their branches, were knots of rose satin with long ends. The pointed
bodice was draped with tulle, the billowy bertha of tulle was edged
with lace. By way of head-dress, she had placed upon her black locks a
diadem crown of the same flowers. Two long leafy tendrils were twined
in her hair and fell on her neck. As cloak, she had a kind of scarf of
blue cashmere embroidered in gold and lined with blue satin.
"So much beauty and splendor immediately moved the Tuareg and,
especially, Clémentine's right-hand neighbor, El-Hadj-ben-Guemâma,
brother of Sheik Otham and Sultan of Ahaggar. By the time the soup
arrived, a bouillon of wild game, seasoned with Tokay, he was already
much smitten. When they served the compote of fruits Martinique à la
liqueur de Mme. Amphoux, he showed every indication of illimitable
passion. The Cyprian wine de la Commanderie made him quite sure of
his sentiments. Hortense kicked my foot under the table. Gramont,
intending to do the same to Anna, made a mistake and aroused the
indignant protests of one of the Tuareg. I can safely say that when
the time came to go to Mabille, we were enlightened as to the manner
in which our visitors respected the prohibition decreed by the Prophet
in respect to wine.