That night in 1848 the young Jules he was wearing his only suit, the one that carefully took turns with his friend Eduoard Bonamy to frequent some other literary and intellectual gathering in Paris. He tried not to let his clothing reveal his provincial Nantes origin to the gathering, and even less so his tight economic situation. Many days he only ate bread and milk, and the fact is that the little allowance he received from his father was used to pay the rent of a modest room in the Latin Quarter (a room he also shared with his friend Bonamy) and, above all, to buy books and more books, essential for those who, like Jules, wanted to be a great playwright.
It was getting late, and as I walked down the stairs of Madame Barreré's house (a well-known and bohemian gathering room), he absently recalled the literary conversations he had just had and that he was so passionate about. Just then, Jules bumped into a rotund gentleman hurrying up the stairs, huffing and puffing. Jules didn't apologize. He looked at him haughtily and said:
– I am sure you had a very good dinner tonight
– Perfectly young, nothing less than a nantesine bacon omelette -replied the stranger
– The Nantes style omelettes in Paris are worth nothing. You have to put saffron on them, do you understand? -Jules interrupted
– So you know how to make tortillas, young man? asked the gentleman
– What if I know how to make tortillas, sir? Above all, I know how to eat them.
– You are insolent! And he demanded satisfaction. Here's my card. You will come to my house on Friday to cook yourself an omelette
The next day, Jules recounts the curious incident to his friend Aristide Hignard, at which point he takes out the card, reads it, and shouts in astonishment:Alexandre Dumas!
Yes, that plump and bulky gentleman on the stairs was nothing more and nothing less than Alexander Dumas , the great writer and author of bestselling novels such as «The Three Musketeers » or «The Count of Monte Cristo «. Jules, who was none other than Jules Verne , He went to the singular «mourning» and cooked the omelette.
From that moment both maintained a great friendship and Dumas became, until his death in 1870, Verne's literary adviser and protector, even helping him to premiere the occasional play in Paris, although with little success. But what the great Alexandre Dumas could not even suspect at that time is that, over time, Jules Verne, his provincial protégé from Nantes, would surpass him worldwide both in popularity and in number of print runs and editions. In 1885, fifteen years after Dumas's death, Verne dedicated his novel "Matías Sandorf to him. «, his own version of «The Count of Monte Cristo «.
Collaboration of Guillermo.