"Twenty-two," said the Pole.
"I will not permit you to discuss the subject of egotism yet. Wait a few years, until you become an egotist yourself. 'Nemo sapiens nisi patiens.' I admit, however, that you have comprehended my meaning very well, and that you have argued fairly."
A general laugh seized the whole company.
"With your permission," added the Dane, taking up his lorgnette, which he had placed on the table, "this threatens to become a rather long international conference. It is necessary that I should reinforce the inner man to sustain the discussion. Macaroni is very 'filling,' but does not nourish overmuch. I shall send for something more substantial. Decidedly, these Italians for many generations of stomachs have cultivated an exaggerated taste for macaroni."
"Do not trouble yourself about us!" replied the lady smiling.
"Monsieur Pole," continued the loquacious Dane, "do not be offended if I invite you brusquely to dine with me. It is simple egotism. When I eat alone I am not hungry. To see any one eat gives me an appetite, and I divine in you a Polish stomach."
The young man blushed deeply and murmured, "But--but"--
"No buts. It is a service which you can render me. Eat like a wolf; I will enjoy looking at you in coveting your appetite."
With these words he sighed with regret and knocked on the table. A waiter in his shirt-sleeves came running in. Each one ordered his dinner. The conversation flagged, and the German, gloomy and indignant, went and seated himself in a corner.
"Monsieur is provoked," said the Dane to him; "but monsieur is wrong. I esteem your nation very highly, and I render justice to all its general qualities. The Germans abound everywhere, like the trichina; and like it, the hardier they are the more surely they provoke the death of those who have received them. It is a credit to the people, though it be an offence in the trichina. If you dislike my opinion read Heine, who justifies me in all points."