“Because she wants to produce a great effect when she finally appears.—And the baron of last evening, Monsieur de Schtapelmerg?”
“He is playing billiards.”
“Is he drunk again as he was yesterday?—You were both pretty bad.”
“Oh! Freluchon, don’t go back to that, I beg you!”
“If you refuse to let me laugh, I’ll call you Chamoureau.—Come, come, be calm, my friend; I don’t mean to make you wretched—I will leave that to your stunning spouse.—I am going to join Monsieur Thousand Sauerkrauts; that is a man I am most desirous to know more intimately.”
While Freluchon betook himself to the billiard room, Doctor Antoine went from one to another of the persons whom he knew, and whispered:
“Monsieur de Belleville has a surprise in store for the dinner.”
“What is it, doctor?”
“I can’t tell; he has discovered a method of telling the exact age of a tree simply by examining the trunk.”
“Really! how on earth does he do it?”