“Ah! No more? That’s a pity.”
“Oh I have plenty more,” interposed O’Neill; “but not here. And you want to read this Boyton volume.”
GEKT GIJ ER MEDE?
“Let me finish the ‘Dialogue between English gentlemen’, and you may have The Work.
The first Englishman says: “Ik bid U, mijnheer; laat mij geene onheusheid begaan.”
Then the other, the man who had been so disappointed that his friend wasn’t murdered, answers politely: “Ik weet zeer wel welke eerbied ik U schuldig ben.”
Up to this moment the two acquaintances seemed to have got on fairly well together in spite of some difficulties. Why two Englishmen when they met in Paris about the year of grace 1805 should plunge into a complimentary dialogue in Dutch, is not very clear. But that there was a lurking feeling of antagonism in the gossip’s mind towards his compatriot, seems to be shown by the remark that he now makes to wind up the dialogue.
DUIZENDMAAL VERSCHOONING, MEJUFFROUW!
“Mejuffrouw (!) ik bid U duizendmaal om verschooning, indien ik heden eenige onheusheid omtrent U bega.”
That was final. The returned traveller hasn’t a word for himself, after he is called ‘mejuffrouw.’