"And if you had told me sooner that you were tipsy——"
"True, I should have begun with that when I entered the room. As for my parrot, never fear, my dear neighbor, you won't hear from him any more. I have a dressing room beyond my two rooms; that is a long distance from you, and if I close all the doors, I think that you will not be able to hear him talk."
"Very good, and on my side, I hope not to be confined to the house long. Then, as I seldom come home except to go to bed, you can teach your parrot to talk at your ease."
"My dear neighbor, I am overjoyed that this little discussion has afforded me the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I see that you are a man who has lived—when one knows thirty-three ways of drinking champagne!"
"Yes, it is true, I have lived, and very well—too well apparently, as they say that that's the cause of my gout."
"As soon as you are cured, I hope to dine with you; will you do me the honor to accept an invitation?"
"Why not? I have never refused an opportunity to enjoy myself, and I don't propose to do so now."
"I will take you to dinner with a fascinating woman, an actress on the boulevard. That will not offend you?"
"Offend me? far from it! in the old days, I would have invited you to dine with four."
"Bravo! bravissimo! I see that we are made to get along together; you are very jovial."