Page 226 - les-miserables

CHAPTER V

AT BOMBARDA’S

The Russian mountains having been exhausted, they be-
gan to think about dinner; and the radiant party of eight,
somewhat weary at last, became stranded in Bombarda’s
public house, a branch establishment which had been set
up in the Champs-Elysees by that famous restaurant-keep-
er, Bombarda, whose sign could then be seen in the Rue de
Rivoli, near Delorme Alley.
A large but ugly room, with an alcove and a bed at the end
(they had been obliged to put up with this accommodation in
view of the Sunday crowd); two windows whence they could
survey beyond the elms, the quay and the river; a magnifi-
cent August sunlight lightly touching the panes; two tables;
upon one of them a triumphant mountain of bouquets, min-
gled with the hats of men and women; at the other the four
couples seated round a merry confusion of platters, dishes,
glasses, and bottles; jugs of beer mingled with flasks of wine;
very little order on the table, some disorder beneath it;

“They made beneath the table
A noise, a clatter of the feet that was abominable,’

226 Les Miserables