“Nonsense! I never get drunk myself.”
“What are you looking for now?”
“I am looking for Monsieur de Schtapelmerg.”
“Good God! what did you say?”
“I said I was looking for Monsieur de Schtapelmerg; that’s the baron’s name.”
“He has a name that requires study to be pronounced in a becoming manner.—So he was with you, was he?”
“Yes, we came out together after dinner—to take a look at the country. He probably left me, at the call of nature; and I was so absorbed in my search that I didn’t notice that I was alone.”
“Have you lost anything, pray, that you were engaged in such an absorbing search?”
“Oh, no! I am seeking a method of ascertaining the age of trees simply by looking at the trunk.”
“I should never have suspected that that was what you were seeking. You are getting to be beyond me; I am no longer on your level. Was it your wife who commissioned you to ascertain that?”