“But the ‘officious fellow’ shook his head terribly.
“‘How many more times am I to tell you what a foolish young gentleman you are?’ cried he. ‘Will you never get up wiser any morning of the year?’
“‘I thought,’ murmured Franz, in broken, almost sobbing accents—‘I thought—the young ladies—would have been delighted—with—my song;—you see—I’ve been—so well taught—and I can sing—’
“‘Oh! pooh, pooh, pooh!’ interrupted the waiter once more. ‘Bother singing and everything else, if you’ve not been asked! Much better go to bed!’
“Poor Franz! It was hard work to give in, and he made a last effort.
“‘Don’t you think—after all—that the prejudice—is owing to—what I told you about:—people do so dislike a snub-nose?’
“‘Oh, pooh! bother a snub-nose,’ exclaimed the waiter; ‘what will your nose signify, if you don’t poke it in everybody’s way?’
“And with this conclusion Mr. Franz was obliged to be content; and he ordered his dinner up-stairs, and prepared himself for an evening of tears and repentance.
“But, before the waiter had been gone five minutes, he returned with a letter in his hand.
“‘Now, here’s somebody asking something at last,’ said he, for a servant had brought it.