"No, monsieur; your cravats have been wretchedly tied lately, and your trousers don't fit as tight as they used to."
"They are not worn tight now."
"If I want you to wear tight ones, why it seems to me that you ought to adopt my taste.—Ah! what a pretty bunch of violets you have there, old fellow! where did you get that, you old Cupid? From some charmer, I will wager!"
"It is true that I got them from a charming young girl."
"Aha! give us the story; tell us all about it."
"I will tell you about it, but not now; at dessert, with your permission; it will have all the more charm."
"All right, at dessert it is. By the way, so you wanted to dine with Jéricourt, did you? When Alfred told me that, I confess that I was mightily surprised, you agreed so badly the other time. I said to myself: 'There's something underneath this; Monsieur de Roncherolle has invented some practical joke, some farce that he proposes to play on him;' am I right?"
"I don't say no; but don't ask any more questions; I am keeping that also in reserve for the dessert."
"Well, well! it seems that we shall laugh at dessert."
"Yes, yes," said Saint-Arthur with a meaning glance at Roncherolle. "Oh yes! our dinner will be most amusing, and we shall laugh, I trust, at dessert. We shall have some surprises, some unexpected incidents."