"Yes, the Kaiser has distinctly plebeian ideas, it must be owned."
"What too did he mean by putting in the pillory an officer of the Guard? Only think of it, just for misappropriating from the treasury sixty-six thousand gulden. And it was only to build an alchymist's laboratory. Could he help it because it turned out a failure?"
"Ah, well, now the ice is broken."
Meantime the friseur had finished his work and gone, so it was easy for Ráby to broach his errand, with such an opening:
"The Emperor visits with extreme severity the embezzlement of public funds; it is for this very purpose that he has sent me to bring to light certain abuses connected with the Szent-Endre municipality."
"I know, I know," said his Excellency, as he poured some eau de Cologne over his hands, "it has come to my ears. But you will be a long time finding your way out of that tangle, once you get into it; let me warn you. By the way, is there a new opera company at the Vienna theatre?"
"Ah, my good friend, I've no time to run after plays and players. I've dramas of my own to look after, and they deal with the picking of other people's pockets."
"The deuce take your dramas! Does one still see pretty women at Vienna? Where do you have your evening gatherings during the winter?"
"We go to 'The Good Woman.' The sign-board is a woman without a head."
"What does the hostess say to that, pray?"