"Hush! Dupréval is getting up; he's going to speak."
"As you know, messieurs, this is my last dinner party as a bachelor, for I am to be married in a fortnight. Before settling down, before becoming transformed into a sedate and virtuous mortal, I determined to get you all together; I wanted to enjoy once more with you a few of those moments of freedom and folly which have—a little too often, perhaps—marked my bachelor days with a white stone. Now, then, messieurs, as one should never be ungrateful, as one should bestow at least a single thought on those who have made one happy, I drink to my mistresses, messieurs, to whom I bid a last farewell to-day!"
"Here's to Dupréval's mistresses!"
"And to our own, messieurs!"
"To the ladies in general, and to the one I love in particular!"
"To their shapely legs and little feet!"
"To their blue eyes and fair hair!"
"I prefer brunettes!"
"To their graceful figures!"
"To the Hottentot Venus!"