"You can throw it from here."
"Or give it a roll like a ball," added Lepitre.
"That is a good idea," cried Toulan, "I'll have a little game of nine-pins. I am quite at home there, and can do it well. Now look sharp! I will contrive to roll the ball between the four feet of the table, and strike the foot of the queen."
"There is no queen," cried Lepitre, passionately.
"I am speaking of the game, Citizen Lepitre; do me the pleasure of not making yourself an ass. Now look, and see me roll it as I said!"
"Well, go ahead; we should like to see you do it," cried Simon.
"Yes, we would like to see you do it," chimed in the officials, laying down their cards.
Toulan now drew out of his breast-pocket a black ball of silk, and counted "One, two, three!" He then gave it a skilful roll across the floor. With attention and laughing looks, they all watched it take its course across the waxed floor, as it moved just where Toulan had said it would.
"Bravo, bravo!" shouted the men, as the ball struck the foot of the queen, who stooped down slowly and picked it up.
"Toulan is a jolly good fellow," cried Simon, striking the table with his fists in an ecstasy of delight. "But I declare it seems to me that the ball is a good deal larger now than it was before."