“Go, then!”
He commissioned the man, and then must drag out another half-hour, awaiting the fellow’s reappearance. At length the latter returned, bearing a basket containing a cold fowl, bread, and a bottle of red wine.
“Now, monsieur jaquemart,” said Ned, as he tackled the provender, “how long is permitted to this farce in the playing?”
“I do not understand you.”
“Why, a joke is a joke; but I would have you go and explain to our pleasant commissary, of the Section Croix Blanche, that brevity is the soul of wit.”
“Again, I do not understand.”
Ned wagged his finger at the man.
“I have submitted to this outrage very patiently; but, I warn you, there will be reprisals by-and-by.”
“That is all one to me.”
“Wilt thou take a message from me to the commissary?”