"Fiddlesticks! what nonsense are you up to? It seems to be cheerful work. Perhaps the spell will be broken if you are disturbed."
"Don't go, old fellow; let me finish the series. I know you are an unbeliever; but I shall be able to convince the most sceptical."
I sat down much amused at my friend's earnestness and excitement, and waited patiently the end of the experiments. He was soon satisfied, and, starting up, exclaimed—
"Perfect, and a marvel of simplicity!"
"Not hereditary in the family, I hope?" I asked. "When the attack is on you, you don't fly at your best friends?"
"Yes, I bite them! While you have been gadding about town, doing no good, here have I been making my hair turn grey by testing the various chances at roulette."
"Might I suggest," I said, "that you should vary the monotony of the roulette—toujours des perdrix—with a little solitaire. I can recommend that as a lively game."
"Go to Jericho!" he rather impolitely answered. "I am the working bee; you are the drone. While you were whispering absurdities into the ear of Marie I have discovered an infallible system."
"Anything to do with keeping one's temper?"