"Why?"
"Because you have been doing nothing."
"Who told you that?"
"Why! nobody is talking of you."
"I have written a book."
"Ah yes! your Impressions de Voyages. I read that, it was very funny; you're a fine joker."
"Why am I a joker?"
"Would you have me believe that you have tasted bear's flesh and caught trout with a bill-hook?"
"Of course, there is absolutely nothing else in my Impressions de Voyages. But I am writing a history now." "You write a history! You are wrong."
"Why so?"