nearly ten
o’clock before
Graff of the Hotel du Rhin was acquainted with the first provision dealers in Paris ; never had Pons nor Schmucke fared so sumptuously . The dishes were a rapture to think of ! Italian paste , delicate of flavor , unknown to the public ; smelts fried as never smelts were fried before ; fish from Lake Leman , with a real Genevese sauce , and a cream for plum-pudding which would have astonished the London doctor who is said to have invented it . It was nearly ten o'clock before they rose from table . The amount of wine , German and French , consumed at that dinner would amaze the contemporary dandy ; nobody knows the amount of liquor that a German can imbibe and yet keep calm and quiet ; to have even an idea of the quantity , you must dine in Germany and watch bottle succeed to bottle , like wave rippling after wave along the sunny shores of the Mediterranean , and disappear as if the Teuton possessed the absorbing power of sponges or sea sand . Perfect harmony prevails meanwhile ; there is none of the racket that there would be over the liquor in France ; the talk is as sober as a money-lender 's extempore speech ; countenances flush , like the faces of the brides in frescoes by Cornelius or Schnorr -LRB- imperceptibly , that is to say -RRB- , and reminiscences are poured out slowly while the smoke puffs from the pipes . About half-past ten that evening Pons and Schmucke found themselves sitting on a bench out in the garden , with the ex-flute between them ; they were explaining their characters , opinions , and misfortunes , with no very clear idea as to why or how they had come to this point .