A deep shadow beneath it invited me in spite of
the scant and dusty grass, and in this country no one disturbs the
wanderer. There, lying down, I slept without dreams till evening.
AUCTOR. Turn to page 94.
LECTOR. I have it. It is not easy to watch the book in two places at
once; but pray continue.
AUCTOR. Note the words from the eighth to the tenth lines.
LECTOR. Why?
AUCTOR. They will make what follows seem less abrupt.
Once there was a man dining by himself at the Cafe Anglais, in the
days when people went there. It was a full night, and he sat alone at
a small table, when there entered a very big man in a large fur coat.
The big man looked round annoyed, because there was no room, and the
first man very courteously offered him a seat at his little table.
They sat down and ate and talked of several things; among others, of
Bureaucracy. The first maintained that Bureaucracy was the curse of
France.
'Men are governed by it like sheep. The administrator, however humble,
is a despot; most people will even run forward to meet him halfway,
like the servile dogs they are,' said he.
'No,' answered the Man in the Big Fur Coat, 'I should say men were
governed just by the ordinary human sense of authority. I have no
theories. I say they recognize authority and obey it. Whether it is
bureaucratic or not is merely a question of form.'
At this moment there came in a tall, rather stiff Englishman. He also
was put out at finding no room. The two men saw the manager approach
him; a few words were passed, and a card; then the manager suddenly
smiled, bowed, smirked, and finally went up to the table and begged
that the Duke of Sussex might be allowed to share it. The Duke hoped
he did not incommode these gentlemen. They assured him that, on the
contrary, they esteemed his presence a favour.
'It is our prerogative,' said the Man in the Big Fur Coat, 'to be the
host Paris entertaining her Guest.'
They would take no denial; they insisted on the Duke's dining with
them, and they told him what they had just been discussing. The Duke
listened to their theories with some _morgue,_ much _spleen,_ and no
little _phlegm,_ but with _perfect courtesy,_ and then, towards the
coffee, told them in fluent French with a strong accent, his own
opinion. (He had had eight excellent courses; Yquem with his fish, the
best Chambertin during the dinner, and a glass of wonderful champagne
with his dessert.) He spoke as follows, with a slight and rather hard
smile:
