The course is to say one wants to sleep; one need not sleep, but no objection is made, and one is usually allowed to depart at once. I have not ventured to try this among my aristocratic friends, I doubt whether it would work with them—besides, they disarm me by handing round tea—but with corporals I employ it freely, and the knowledge that I can always get away in a moment, even if I choose to remain, imparts to their company a sense of freedom which I regret to say I have sometimes looked for in vain in the educated drawing-rooms of the upper classes.
Before Filomena could begin her third piece I put my method in practice, and for once it did not work quite smoothly, but the result was not unsatisfactory.
Certainly I might sleep, said the corporal; but why go away? He hoped I should dine with them. I might name
my own hour and, as for sleeping, there was the bed. Besides, his brother was coming to dinner:
“I want you to know my brother,” said the corporal; “he is not like me.”
“But, my dear Corporal, that is no recommendation,” I replied. “Is he also a coast-guard?”
“No. He is a dentist and very clever. He is an artificial dentist and he had to work to learn his profession.”
“Well, I suppose every dentist must learn his profession before he is qualified. Dentists have to be made, they are not like poets. No one is a natural born dentist.”
“He had to work very hard. For a whole year he went to the hospital every day four times a week.”
“A clever dentist is a useful ally. I should like to know him. I might want his help while I am here. What is his name?”