Chapter 2

My introduction to the celebrities of the day -- The Café de Paris -- The old Prince Demidoff -- The old man's mania -- His sons -- The furniture and attendance at the Café de Paris -- Its high prices -- A mot of Alfred de Musset -- The cuisine -- A rebuke of the proprietor to Balzac -- A version by one of his predecessors of the cause of Vatel's suicide -- Some of the _habitués_ -- Their intercourse with the attendants -- Their courteous behaviour towards one another -- Le veau à la casserole -- What Alfred de Musset, Balzac, and Alexandre Dumas thought of it -- A silhouette of Alfred de Musset -- His brother Paul on his election as a member of the Académie -- A silhouette of Balzac, between sunset and sunrise -- A curious action against the publishers of an almanack -- A full-length portrait of Balzac -- His pecuniary embarrassments -- His visions of wealth and speculations -- His constant neglect of his duties as a National Guard -- His troubles in consequence thereof -- L'Hôtel des Haricots -- Some of his fellow-prisoners -- Adam, the composer of "Le Postillon de Lonjumeau" -- Eugène Sue; his portrait -- His dandyism -- The origin of the Paris Jockey Club -- Eugène Sue becomes a member -- The success of "Les Mystères de Paris" -- The origin of "Le Juif-Errant" -- Sue makes himself objectionable to the members of the Jockey Club -- His name struck off the list -- His decline and disappearance 24