"I would not trust my dog to his care," he replied.
"I hate him involuntarily," said I.
"I despise him," replied he.
"And yet how unjust!" cried I.
"Oh! bless me, by the day after to-morrow he may be as famous as Volange the actor," replied the stranger.
Monsieur de Calonne pointed to the surgeon with a gesture that seemed to convey, "This fellow might amuse us."
"And did you too dream of a Queen?" asked Beaumarchais.
"No, I dreamed of a people," said he with emphasis, making us laugh. "I was attending a patient whose leg I was to amputate the next day——"
"And you found a people in your patient's thigh?" asked Monsieur de Calonne.
"Exactly so!" replied the surgeon.