The dolls behaved irreproachably, with which their owner was rather inclined to twit Hugh, when, just at the end of the banquet, greatly to his satisfaction, a certain Mademoiselle Zephyrine, a blonde with flaxen ringlets and turquoise blue eyes, suddenly toppled over, something having no doubt upset her equilibrium, and fell flat on her nose on the table.
"Ah!" cried Jeanne, greatly concerned, "my poor Zephyrine has fainted," and, rushing forward to her assistance, worse results followed.

Mesdames Lili and Josephine, two middle-aged ladies somewhat the worse for wear, overcome by the distressing spectacle, _or_ by the sleeve of Jeanne's dress as she leant across them, fell off their chairs too--one, like Zephyrine, on to the table, the other on to the floor, dragging down with her the plateful of ragout in front of her, while her friend's sudden descent upon the table completed the general knockings over and spillings which Zephyrine had begun.
"Oh dear! oh dear!" cried Jeanne; "all the chocolate ragout is spilt, and the whipped-up egg is mixed with the orange-juice soup.

Oh dear! oh dear! and I thought we should have had the whole feast to eat up ourselves after the dolls had had enough." "Yes," said Hugh, "that's what comes of having stupid sticks of dolls at your feasts.

The _animals_ wouldn't have behaved like that." But, seeing that poor Jeanne was really in tears at this unfortunate termination of her entertainment, he left off teasing her, and having succeeded in rescuing some remains of the good things, they sat down on the floor together and ate them up very amicably.
"I don't think I _do_ care much for dolls," said Jeanne meditatively, when she had munched the last crumbs of the snipped-up almonds, which were supposed to represent some very marvellous dish.

("I like almonds terribly--don't you, Cheri ?") she added, as a parenthesis.