Socquard about two hundred and fifty francs, not to speak of the
profits on the consumption of food which the guests took in his cafe.

The front of the house on the square was adorned with painted signs;
on the spaces that separated the windows from the glass door
billiard-cues were represented, lovingly tied together with ribbons,
and above these bows were depicted smoking bowls of punch, the bowls
being in the form of Greek vases. The words "Cafe de la Paix" were over
the door, brilliantly painted in yellow on a green ground, at each end
of which rose pyramids of tricolored billiard-balls. The window-sashes,
painted green, had small panes of the commonest glass.

A dozen arbor-vitae, which ought to be called cafe-trees, stood to the
left and right in pots, and presented their usual pretensions and
sickly appearance. Awnings, with which shopkeepers of the large cities
protect their windows from the head of the sun, were as yet an unknown
luxury in Soulanges. The beneficent liquids in the bottles which stood
on boards just behind the window-panes went through a periodic
cooking. When the sun concentrated its rays through the lenticular
knobs in the glass it boiled the Madeira, the syrups, the liqueurs,
the preserved plums, and the cherry-brandy set out for show; for the
heat was so great that Aglae, her father, and the waiter were forced
to sit outside on benches poorly shaded by the wilted shrubs,--which
Mademoiselle kept alive with water that was almost hot. All three,
father, daughter, and servant, might be seen at certain hours of the
day stretched out there, fast asleep, like domestic animals.

In 1804, the period when "Paul and Virginia" was the rage, the inside
of the cafe was hung with a paper which represented the chief scenes
of that romance. There could be seen Negroes gathering the coffee-crop,