—Such dear, naked little rats.
[They titter.
—And in his study the toys are lying on the table: a horse without a tail, a soldier's cap, and a red-nosed clown. I played a little with them. I put on the soldier's cap. It was very becoming to me. But there's such a lot of dust on the things. I got all dirty.
—But did you go into the drawing-room where the ball was given? It's so gay there.
—Yes, I did. Fancy what I saw. It was dark, the windows were broken, and the wind was playing with the wall-paper—
—Making a sound as of music.
—And in the darkness the guests were squatting on their knees at the wall—and you should have seen how they looked!
—We know.
—And they barked: "How rich! How magnificent! How brilliant! How rich!"
—You're joking, of course.