"And you?"
"Fourteen aces, three kings, three queens.... And you don't make a trick." And he laid his hand on the table and then pushed all the cards together while his companion shuffled.
"Did you know that Ella is about to be married?"
"What a pity!"
"Why a pity?"
"She can't jump through the hoop any more."
"Nonsense. The more they are married the slenderer they grow."
"Yet there are exceptions. Many names belonging to the aristocracy of the circus already appear in the third and fourth generation, which seems to point to some alternation of a slender and a stouter form, or if you like, to the new moon, the first quarter, &c."
"You are mistaken. Error in calculo. You forget that there may be adoptions. All these circus people are secretly 'Gichtelianer' and pass on their property, their rank and their names according to agreement. They seem the same and yet they are different. There is always fresh blood. Cut.... Besides that I have another bit of news. Afzelius is to join the General Staff."
"Which do you mean?"