And give your hat the least possible inclination to the left ear.

You may turn up the bottoms of your trousers, if you like--anything to look a little slangy." "Is that necessary ?" "Indispensable--at all events in the honorable society of _Les Chicards."_ "_Les Chicards_!" I repeated.

"What are they ?" "It is the name of the club, and means--Heaven only knows what! for Greek or Latin root it has none, and record of it there exists not, unless in the dictionary of Argot.

And yet if you were an old Parisian and had matriculated for the last dozen years at the Bal de l'Opera, you would know the illustrious Chicard by sight as familiarly as Punch, or Paul Pry, or Pierrot.

He is a gravely comic personage with a bandage over one eye, a battered hat considerably inclining to the back of his head, a coat with a high collar and long tails, and a _tout ensemble_ indescribably seedy--something between a street preacher and a travelling showman.