“It is not my misfortunes, sir, but myself I insist on your respecting, when you do me the honor to speak to me.”
“You are French, sir.”
“A Frenchman and a nobleman.”
“You are mistaken.”
“What do you say, sir.”
“I say you cannot be a French nobleman, since there are no more noblemen in France.”
“I know not if there be any in France, but there is one here who will make you food for fishes.”
“You will not do it.”
“Do you mean that for a challenge?”
“Merely as advice. You are the cidevant Baron Anspach, of Phalsbourg, and you descend by the female line from the last Dukes of Lorraine. I know that, and I know also that your farm near Phalsbourg has been confiscated, because you emigrated; that you have no funds in France, and that you are there condemned to death.”