"Then come and spice our meal with your good company."
"Excuse me, sir; leave me rather here behind my screen. In the first place, I am in a happy vein, and on the right track; I feel that something good will come of this night's work."
"And tomorrow—"
"Hear me out."
"Well."
"You would be doing your other guest an ill-service by inviting me."
"Do you know the steward then?"
"From my earliest youth, I am the son of the gatekeeper of the palace."
"Oh, ho! then you came from that pretty little lodge with the ivy and the birds, and the jolly old lady."
"She is my mother—and the first time the butcher kills she will concoct for you and me a dish of sausages and cabbage without an equal."