"Do you hear me?" said the wizard.
"Ye-es, oh, yes, sir," said Mr. Mole, who could not, for the life of him, get his voice above a whisper.
"Then answer."
"By all means! decidedly—quite so, I assure you."
"What? Beware! Do you mean to doubt and mock?"
"Oh, dear; yes."
"Hah!"
"That is, no. I really don't know what I am saying."
"Silence, or the fiends will have your ber-lud ber-lud—Do you hear me?" shrieked the old wizard.
"Quite so. Dear, dear me, Harry," said Mr. Mole in an undertone, "what a very remarkable person, and I don't want to lose my ber-lud."