"But this town has a population of such high intelligence," I said, thinking to flatter him, "that it learns many things before we do."
"If you admit that," he said, "then I can tell you something."
"Ah! what is it?" I asked, showing eagerness.
"Perhaps you may not like to hear it," he said, "but Sir William Howe was nearly carried off last night by Wildfoot."
Then all of them laughed in sneering fashion.
"I was afraid you would not like my news," said the man, pretending of a sudden to be very humble; "but you would not be satisfied until I told it, and so I had to tell it."
"We must even try elsewhere," said Marcel.
Marcel was a jester, but, like most other jesters, he did not like a jest put upon himself. So we left the eating-house, and as we went out we saw the man Waters coming towards us. As I have often said, I did not like this fellow, and moreover I feared we had reason to dread him, but I thought he could tell us what we wished to know, as he had such a prying temper.
He saluted us with much politeness, and stopped when I beckoned to him. The men in the eating-house had all come to the door.