“Bardon, Monsieur, bardon! I am doo old. I have no spirits.”
“What, not enough to see a game of billiards between Markham and Hood! Why, Lebas was charmed so far as he saw it, poor fellow, with their play.”
“No, no, no, no, Monsieur; a sousand sanks, no, bardon, I cannod,” says the baron. “I do not like billiards, and your friends have not found it a lucky game.”
“Well, if you don't care for billiards, we'll find something else,” replies hospitable Mr. Longcluse.
“Nosing else, nosing else,” answers the baron hastily. “I hade all zese sings, ze seatres, ze bubbedshows, and all ze ozer amusements, I give you my oas. Did you read my liddle node?”
“I did indeed, and it amused me beyond measure,” says Longcluse joyously.
“Amuse!” repeats the baron, “how so?”
“Because it is so diverting; one might almost fancy it was meant to ask me for fifteen hundred pounds.”
“I have lost, by zis sing, a vast deal more zan zat.”
“And, my dear Baron, what on earth have I to do with that?”