"Certainly. I dined with him yesterday, a miserable dinner it is true, at Baron ----'s, _chargé d'affaires_ of ----, who brought me here just now in his carriage! And what a carriage! a wretched concern with a glass window in the back, a regular rattletrap. It is indeed a carriage which seems made expressly to help to digest his bad dinners, so hard is it; for that miserly fellow scrapes up dowries for his six hideous daughters from the allowance made him for entertaining; and he is right, for without dowry who the devil would look twice at any of his daughters? But I come back to the prince." "Very unfortunate for him, M. de Pommerive." "Oh, not at all! I shall be careful of the dear prince, for he appreciates me, and I have come to make an appointment for our business." "And what business, M. de Pommerive? May one, without being indiscreet, inquire into this diplomatic secret?" "Oh, it is quite plain; he asked that miserly baron--" and here Pommerive opened a parenthesis to insert another piece of malice. "Speaking of this miserly baron," he continued, "would you believe it? when he gives his wretched dinners, a sort of _Maître Jacques_ goes once around the table with a miserable bottle of champagne, not iced, which he holds tightly in his arms, just as a nurse holds her precious nursling; and he says very quickly, as he passes on still more quickly, 'Monsieur does not drink champagne,' without any point of interrogation, the wretch, but with an accent of affirmation." "See now the value of punctuation, M. de Pommerive! But come back to the prince." "Well, M. de Fersen having asked the baron to point out to him some one of enlightenment and good taste who could coach him on theatrical matters, and give him information about the actors, the baron has had the good sense to present me." "Ah, I understand," I replied, "you are going to be M. de Fersen's dramatic cicerone." "That is it exactly; but, between us, I find this fondness for the theatre very ridiculous in a man like the prince. To judge by this sample he must be a poor sort of a fellow, this Fersen. I am not surprised at people saying that his wife directs all the diplomatic affairs. She has the appearance of a strong-minded woman, sharp and hard; and, moreover, they say a thirty-six carats virtue. What do I care about her virtue? I do not grudge it to her, though there is not a dissenting voice. It is astonishing!" "There is something even more astonishing, M. de Pommerive." "And what is it, dear count?" "It is that some straightforward, honourable man has not the courage to go to M. de Fersen and repeat word for word all the insolent things you have permitted yourself to say about him, so that he might kick you out of his house." "Dash it! no one would surely go and repeat to him what I have said! I feel pretty safe on that score; but if any one did I would not care, I would stand by my words." "You are boasting, M. de Pommerive!"