"Don't you? Now I must go back to the Café—and finish my wine."
"Yes, and I'll finish mine." He put his head under the pump, and drank.
TOUR DE LA MOTTE FORTE ARNAY LE DUC
Facing page 182
Then there was the Hotel Chrétien, as I think it was called; an establishment rather casually run, but marked by a bonhomie and insouciance that enlivened the monotony of wet days. The commercial travellers made themselves very much at home with Madame and the waitress. One of these gentlemen, in particular, subjected the latter to a flow of chaff that ceased not even with the coffee. He always began with a request to her to recite the ménu aloud, and whenever a lull came, he would turn to her, and say in the most innocent tone:
"By the way, Madamoiselle, what have we to eat this evening?"
"Is Monsieur stone deaf?"
"Not at all, Mademoiselle; only hungry. And I like to regulate appetite by the dishes that are coming!"