Croniamantal dead, Paponat brought Tristouse Ballerinette back to the hotel, where she relapsed into nervous fainting-spells. They were in a very old building and by chance Paponat discovered, wrapped up in cardboard, a bottle of water of the Queen of Hungary which dated from the 17th Century. This remedy worked rapidly. Tristouse recovered her senses and immediately went to the hospital to claim the body of Croniamantal which was turned over to her without delay. She arranged a decent burial for him and placed over his tomb a stone on which there was engraved the following epitaph:
Walk lightly and your silence keep,
To leave untroubled his good sleep.
Then she went back to Paris with Paponat who soon left her for a mannikin of the Champs-élysées.
Tristouse did not regret him very long. She went into mourning for Croniamantal and climbed up to the Montmartre, to the Bird of Benin's who began to pay court to her, and after he had what he desired they began to talk of Croniamantal.
"I ought to make a statue to him," said the Bird of Benin, "For I am not only a painter but also a sculptor."
"That's right," said Tristouse, "we must raise a statue to him."
"Where?" asked the Bird of Benin; "The government will not grant us any ground. Times are bad for poets."
"So they say," replied Tristouse, "but perhaps it isn't true. What do you think of the Meudon woods?"
"I thought of that, but I dared not say it. Let's go to the Meudon woods."
"A statue of what?" asked Tristouse, "Marble? Bronze?"
"No, that's old fashioned. I must model a profound statue out of nothing, like poetry and glory."
"Bravo! Bravo!" cried Tristouse clapping her hands, "A statue out of nothi............