The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol

“Madame,” said Aristide, “You Are Adorable, and I Love You to Distraction” 50 “The Villain Was a Traveller in Buttons—Buttons!” 60 He Burst into Shrieks of Laughter 64 “And You!” shouted Bocardon, Falling on Aristide; “I Must Embrace You Also” 68 Standing on the Arrival Platform of Euston Station 78 “Ah! the Pictures,” cried Aristide, with a Wide Sweep of His Arms 88 “I’ll Take Five Hundred Pounds,” said He, “to Stay in” 96 Between the Folds of a Blanket Peeped the Face of a Sleeping Child 110 He Demonstrated the Proper Application of the Cure 120 It is a Fearsome Thing for a Man to be Left Alone in the Dead of Night with a Young Baby 124 One of the Little Girls in Pigtails Was Holding Him, While Miss Anne Administered the Feeding-Bottle 134 He Must Have Dealt Out Paralyzing Information 180 Fleurette Danced with Aristide, as Light as an Autumn Leaf Tossed by the Wind 188 Aristide Practised His Many Queer Accomplishments 200 He Read It, and Blinked in Amazement 208 He Might as Well Have Pointed Out the Marvels of Kubla Khan’s Pleasure-Dome to a Couple of Guinea-Pigs 216 “I’ve Caught You! At Last, After Twenty Years, I’ve Caught You” 234 There He Saw a Sight Which for a Moment Paralyzed Him 238 Mr. Ducksmith Seized Him by the Lapels of His Coat 242 THE JOYOUS ADVENTURES OF ARISTIDE PUJOL The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol I THE ADVENTURE OF THE FAIR PATRONNE In narrating these few episodes in the undulatory, not to say switchback, career of my friend Aristide Pujol, I can pretend to no chronological sequence. Some occurred before he (almost literally) crossed my path for the first time, some afterwards. They have been related to me haphazard at odd times, together with a hundred other incidents, just as a chance tag of association recalled them to his swift and picturesque memory. He would, indeed, make a show of fixing dates by reference to his temporary profession; but so Protean seem to have been his changes of fortune in their number and rapidity that I could never keep count of them or their order. Nor does it matter. The man’s life was as disconnected as a pack of cards. My first meeting with him happened in this wise. I had been motoring in a listless, solitary fashion about Languedoc. A friend who had stolen…