ACT--PATRIOTISM--CHORUS--DINNER--FORWARDS--ENTRÉE--EXIT--DESTINATION._

With DAUBINET I soon acquire the careless habit of speaking any French
that comes into my head, irrespective of grammar, genders, or idioms.
If he doesn't understand it in French he will do so in English, or
_vice versâ_. On this mutual comprehension system we get along as
easily as the express does, and as easily as the boat does too,
to-day,--for we are in luck, the weather is delicious and the sea
propitious,--and so we arrive hungry and happy at the excellent buffet
at the Calais Station, the praises of which I have sung more than once
in my lifetime.

[Illustration]

Far be it from me to draw comparisons, but I if want to start well and
wisely for the Continong, give me the short sea-passage _viâ_ Dover
and the excellent restauration at Calais, with a good twenty-five
minutes allowed for refreshment; _though why this interval shouldn't
be extended to three-quarters of an hour, and less time occupied on
the journey to Paris, I have never yet been able to ascertain._ In the
not very dim and distant future no doubt it will be so. I record the
above observation in italics, in order to attract the attention of all
whom it may and does and ought to concern. Perhaps they'll kindly see
to it.

Our _déjeuner_ at Calais is as good as it usually is at that
haven of Restauration. After the buffeting of the waves, how
sweet is the _buffet_ of the shore. I sit down at once, as an old
Continental-travelling hand, tell the waiter immediately what I
am going to take, and forthwith it is brought; then, in advance,