"Oh, no! not from so far away."
"Come, Frefred," said Zizi, "if the pie is so delicious, cut into it and let us taste it."
"One moment, my dear love, one moment; it isn't to be cut into like that; I request silence for a moment, and attention."
And the young host, putting his face down to the pie, said in an undertone:
"Dutaillis is lovely.—Come, Coco, come, come!"
"What's this? Alfred is talking to the pie now!" cried Zizi, opening her eyes to their fullest extent.
"Hush, my dear love! hush I say!—Come, Coco—Dutaillis is—go on."
But in vain did they listen and wait; the pie maintained the most profound silence.
"Are you playing proverbs with the pie, my Bibi?"
"Yes, I am playing—that is to say, the pie is going to speak."