"Oh, I say, yes—fine, you know!" I answered, my mouth watering. By Jove! I thought of the devilish good things they got up in season down at the Café Grenouille.
"My dear sir!" The professor bowed to me. "I can not express to you how gratifying to me this meeting is. I must get a list of your societies and degrees. So few appreciate the frog; so many, even in the scientific world, deride my published claim that congenious with man is the rana mugiens or American bullfrog."
By Jove! they were certainly congenial with me, all right.
"Awfully hard to swallow unless well done, don't you know," I demurred thoughtfully.
"Truly incredible, sir!"
The professor took another pinch and held it in front of him.
"But I have allowed for that," he added, emphasizing with his other hand. "My frog brochure meets that difficulty and whets the appetite of the most mediocre."
"By Jove, Billings!" I exclaimed eagerly, "we must tell Marchand about it over at the club." I was so devilish tired of his eternal sauce délicieuse, his sauce aigre, his sauce écossaise and the rest, don't you know.
The professor inclined his head gravely.
"Ha, French! Then Monsieur Marchand has done something with the frog, has he?" he questioned.