"One is obliged to dress as one can."
"That's a fact. You are a Frenchman, ain't you?"
"Yes; a Parisian."
"Then I suppose you know how to make grimaces?"
"Well," replied Passe-partout, somewhat vexed that his nationality should provoke such a question. "It is true that we Frenchmen do know how to make grimaces, but no better than Americans."
"That's so. Well, if I cannot take you as a servant I can engage you as a clown. You see, my lad, this is how it is: in France they exhibit foreign clowns, and in foreign countries French clowns."
"I see."
"You are pretty strong, I suppose?"
"More particularly when I get up after dinner."
"And you know how to sing?"