Sir Asinus continues:
"Not only would I be happier, but more at my ease. To tell you the humiliating truth, my dear Miss Belle-bouche, I am in hourly fear of being arrested."
"Would a wife prevent that?"
"Certainly. What base proctor would dare lay hands upon a married man? But this all disappears like a vision—it is a dream: fuit Ilium, ingens gloria Teucrorumque; which means, 'Mrs. Tom is still in a state of single blessedness,' that being the literal translation of the Hebrew."
And Sir Asinus smiles; and seeing Jacques approach, looks at him triumphantly.
Jacques has just been bitten by the lap dog; and this, added to his melancholy and jealousy, causes him to feel desolate.
"Pardon my interrupting your pleasant conversation," he says.
"Oh, no interruption!" says Sir Asinus triumphantly.
"But I thought I'd mention——
"Speak out, speak out!" says Sir Asinus, shaking with laughter, and assuming a generous and noble air.