Host. And how can I be of any service?
Commissaire. I have orders to attend the performance in your tavern this evening.
Host. It will be an especial honor for me.
Commissaire. 'Tis nothing of that, my excellent Prosper. The authorities wish to have definite information as to what really goes on in your place. For some weeks—
Host. This is a place of amusement, M. le Commissaire—nothing more.
Commissaire. Let me finish what I was saying. For some weeks past this place is said to have been the theatre of wild orgies.
Host. You are falsely informed, M. le Commissaire. We make jokes here, nothing more.
Commissaire. It begins with that, I know. But it finishes up in another way, so I am informed. You have been an actor.
Host. A manager, sir—manager of a first-class troupe who last played in Denis.
Commissaire. That is immaterial. Then you came into a small legacy.