‘Snails! why, is its chest delicate?’
‘No, why on earth do you ask such a thing?’
‘Well, my last master used to take an infusion of snails for his chest—not that it prevented——’
Dumas left the room without waiting for the end. Before he was half-way downstairs he found that he had forgotten his handkerchief, and on returning surprised Joseph standing on Gazelle’s back, gracefully poised on one leg, with the other out-stretched behind him in such a way that not an ounce of his eleven-stone weight was lost on the poor creature.
‘Idiot! what are you about?’
‘There, sir, didn’t I say so?’ rejoined Joseph, proudly.
‘There, there, give me a handkerchief and mind you don’t touch that creature again.’
