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The duke undid his belt and gave it to Grimaud, who tied La Ramee in such a way as to satisfy him. "Your feet, too," said Grimaud. La Ramee stretched out his legs, Grimaud took a table-cloth, tore it into strips and tied La Ramee's feet together. "Now, my lord," said the poor man, "let me have the poire d'angoisse.
Elizabeth Eliza, meanwhile, was trying her grammar phrases with the Parisian. She found it easier to talk French than to understand him. But he understood perfectly her sentences. She repeated one of her vocabularies, and went on with "J'ai le livre." "As-tu le pain?" "L'enfant a une poire." He listened with great attention, and replied slowly.
He affirmed he should return with rejuvenated faculties, after seeing his carissima; and ultimately he persuaded his publisher to advance him two thousand francs for his travelling expenses. Profuse in his gratitude, he wrote from his hotel in Vienna the Hotel de la Poire, situated in the Langstrasse that, in the society of the cherished one, he had regained his imagination and verve.
Philipon, for defence, produced a sheet of paper, and drew a poire, a real large Burgundy pear: in the lower parts round and capacious, narrower near the stalk, and crowned with two or three careless leaves. "There was no treason in THAT," he said to the jury; "could any one object to such a harmless botanical representation?"
*This poire d'angoisse was a famous gag, in the form of a pear, which, being thrust into the mouth, by the aid of a spring, dilated, so as to distend the jaws to their greatest width. "Yes, I understand." "My lord observes that there will be enough to go around." "We shall take to ourselves the poniards and the rope," replied the duke. "And make La Ramee eat the pear," answered Grimaud.
Paul's, crowning its historic mount, or the iron beauty of the bridges, or the magic of the ancient docks, or the twinkling lights o' London, sweeping upward to the stars.... For the American professional seeker after the night romance of Paris, the French have a phrase which, be it soever inelegant, retains still a brilliant verity. The phrase is "une belle poire."
Oaks, elms, and poplars, are seen mingling with birches, willows, and aspens. Several species of indigenous fruit trees were observed by Lucien, among which were crab-apple, raspberry, strawberry, and currant. There was also seen the fruit called by the voyageurs "le poire," but which in English phraseology is known as the "service-berry."
Almost the first figure that these audacious caricaturists dared to depict was a political one: in Macaire's red breeches and tattered coat appeared no less a personage than the King himself the old Poire in a country of humbugs and swindlers the facile princeps; fit to govern, as he is deeper than all the rogues in his dominions.
"Come, now," said the duke, "give some particulars of the plan for our escape." "That is forbidden me," said Grimaud, "until the last moment." "Who will be waiting for me beyond the ditch?" "I know nothing about it, my lord." "But at least, if you don't want to see me turn crazy, tell what that famous pate will contain." "Two poniards, a knotted rope and a poire d'angoisse." *
A gag, of the type which Dumas has described in "Twenty Years After," the poire d'angoisse, was wedged firmly into my mouth, so that only by preserving the utmost composure could I breathe. I was bathed in cold perspiration. So I lay listening to the familiar sounds without and reflecting that it was quite possible so to lie, undisturbed, and to die alone, my presence there wholly unsuspected!
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