"But since they know me, my good and excellent Mr. Sharper. We have dined more than ten times together. I have rendered them a service worth a hundred thousand francs! You know it well; at the camp of the King of the Mountains."
"Yes; yes; but you have not been presented."
"But do you not know that I have exposed myself to a thousand deaths for my dear Mary-Ann?"
"Very well! but you have not been presented."
"Present me, then, yourself."
"Yes, yes; but you must first be presented to me."
"Wait!"
I ran like a crazy man across the ballroom; I jostled several couples who were waltzing; my sword got entangled between my legs, I slipped on the waxed floor, and fell my full length. It was John Harris who helped me up.
"For whom are you searching?"
"They are here, I have seen them. I shall marry Mary-Ann; but I must be presented first. It is the English custom. Help me! Where are they? Have you not seen a large woman, with a bird of paradise head-dress?"