"So do I," growled the husband.
"How dare you! How dare you!" bridled the little woman. "I believe, now, those stories about your drinking absinthe and gambling in Paris."
"Clarinda, love, I mean I wish we had never come to California, but that we had remained in Europe."
"Well, that sounds different."
"As for this Morando, why, confound those Catalonian instincts in him!"
"But he isn't a Catalonian."
"I nearly shot a villainous Catalan major once for less than what Morando has done," he blustered, ignoring his wife's remark.
"What has Captain Morando done? I'm sure he is a very good man, and everyone thinks him handsome."
"Handsome!" straightening his shoulders and looking down at his ample proportions. "Handsome! Why, once at a court ball where I was present half a dozen princesses——"
"Were present also, I presume," snappingly interrupted his wife. "Well, tell me about Morando."