“Oho! there’s a different sort of thing over yonder! Just look at Mademoiselle Polymnie and Monsieur Astianax playing battledore and shuttlecock, and seated, at that!”
“Why, no, they’re going to play cup and ball; they both have pointed sticks in their hands.”
“It’s a new kind of shuttlecock, monsieur: instead of hitting it with a racquet, somebody, not long ago, invented cornets to catch it in; but it’s a much prettier way that they do it now: the shuttlecock has a hole at the end, and you have to catch it by sticking the point into the hole.”
“That’s a game that the ladies enjoy greatly; it is immensely popular in salons.”
“But it must be rather hard.”
“Mademoiselle Polymnie is very strong at it, they say; she has asked young Kingerie to come to count the strokes.”
“Thus far I haven’t seen him do anything but pick up the shuttlecock, which the players don’t seem to catch on their sticks.”
And Chambourdin walked toward them, saying:
“Oh! what a pretty game! I am sorry that I didn’t see the beginning. How many times have they caught it in succession, Monsieur Kingerie?”
“Once!” the young man replied, as he stooped again to pick up the shuttlecock.