JACQUES. Yes, you’re the very man.
BRIGNAC. Why?
JACQUES. Why? Because he has eight children.
BRIGNAC. You, M. Pierre Poiret, you have eight children, and you said nothing about it! Let these ladies congratulate you.
PIERRE [resisting] It’s not civil, M. le sous-préfet, it’s not civil.
BRIGNAC. What d’you mean?
PIERRE. When you ask people to dinner it’s not to make fun of them.
BRIGNAC. But I’m not making fun of you.
PIERRE. You’d be the first that didn’t. I can’t help it! It’s real bad luck, that’s what it is. But it’s no reason why I should always be made fun of.
BRIGNAC. But—