“What—you, too? you join in abusing a respectable woman of noble extraction, do you? How dare you call me names, prince—you wretched old one-legged misery! I'm a tub am I, you one-legged old abomination?”
“Wha—at, madam, I one-legged?”
“Yes—one-legged and toothless, sir; that's what you are!”
“Yes, and one-eyed too!” shouted Maria Alexandrovna.
“And what's more, you wear stays instead of having your own ribs!” added Natalia Dimitrievna.
“His face is all on wire springs!”
“He hasn't a hair of his own to swear by!”
“Even the old fool's moustache is stuck on!” put in Maria Alexandrovna.
“Well, Ma—arie Alexandrovna, give me the credit of having a nose of my ve—ry own, at all events!” said the prince, overwhelmed with confusion under these unexpected disclosures. “My friend, it must have been you betrayed me! you must have told them that my hair is stuck on?”
“Uncle, what an idea, I——!”