It was a wonder, a respectful wonderment, which for a moment left everyone speechless.

They drew one another's attention to it with winks and nods of the head.

Golly! What a bird! "That one didn't get fat by licking the walls, I'll bet!" said Boche.
Then they entered into details respecting the bird.

Gervaise gave the facts.

It was the best she could get at the poulterer's in the Faubourg Poissonniers; it weighed twelve and a half pounds on the scales at the charcoal-dealer's; they had burnt nearly half a bushel of charcoal in cooking it, and it had given three bowls full of drippings.
Virginie interrupted her to boast of having seen it before it was cooked.