And off he would go to buy his tobacco at the "Little Civet," in the Rue des Poissonniers, where he generally took a plum in brandy whenever he met a friend.

Then, he spent the rest of the twenty sous at old Francois's, at the corner of the Rue de la Goutte-d'Or, where there was a famous wine, quite young, which tickled your gullet.

This was an old-fashioned place with a low ceiling.

There was a smoky room to one side where soup was served.

He would stay there until evening drinking because there was an understanding that he didn't have to pay right away and they would never send the bill to his wife.
Besides he was a jolly fellow, who would never do the least harm--a chap who loved a spree sure enough, and who colored his nose in his turn but in a nice manner, full of contempt for those pigs of men who have succumbed to alcohol, and whom one never sees sober! He always went home as gay and as gallant as a lark.
"Has your lover been ?" he would sometimes ask Gervaise by way of teasing her.