“Horrors! and disillusion! The idol of the public—munching peanuts!”
“You ought to try one,” he said.
She stood it for a while; but the saving grace of humour warned her of her peril, and she ate a peanut.
“To save my face,” she explained. “But I didn’t suppose you were capable of it.”
“As a matter of fact,” he said, tranquilly, “a man can do anything in this world if he only does it thoroughly and appears to enjoy himself. I’ve seen the Prince Regent of Boznovia sitting at the window of the Crown Regiment barracks arrayed in his shirt-sleeves and absorbing beer and pretzels.”
“But he was the Prince Regent!”
“And I’m Tennant.”
“According to that philosophy you are at liberty to eat fish with your knife.”
“But I don’t want to.”