"You mean that you are not noble?"
"I mean that I am not old enough to call on a person who receives only older people."
"Perhaps you regret that you are too young, eh?"
"I am very glad that I am young, I assure you!" replied Julien, laughing at his uncle's peculiar reflections.
The uncle, foiled in his attack, began to pace the floor again with a jerky, nerve-wearing step; then he said to Julien:
"Will it take you much longer?"
"Two or three hours."
"May I look?"
"If you choose."
"Oho! that's not bad; that begins to look like something. But you're painting the whole background; where will you put the plant's name? I want it in big gold letters."