"_À vous_!" says Bunny, raisin' a glassful of bubbles and salutin'.
"I'm as thirsty as a camel driver."

"But what I'd like to know," says Mr. Robert, "is what you propose
doing."

"You, my dear fellow," says Bunny, settin' down the glass.

"Truly enterprising!" says Mr. Robert. "But you're going to be
disappointed. In just ten minutes I mean to escort you to the
sidewalk, and then wash my hands of you for good."

Bunny laughs. "Impossible!" says he. "In the first place, you
couldn't sleep tonight, if you did. Secondly, I should hunt you up
tomorrow and make a nuisance of myself."

"You'd be thrown out by a porter," says Mr. Robert.

"Perhaps," says he; "but it wouldn't look nice. I'd be in evening
clothes, you see. The crowd would know at once that I was a gentleman.
Reporters would come. I should tell a most harrowing tale. You'd deny
it, of course; but half the people would believe me. No, no, Bob!
Three hours ago, in my old rags, you might have kicked me into the
gutter, and no one would have made any fuss at all. But now! Why, it
would be absurd! I should make a mighty row over it."

"You threaten blackmail?" says Mr. Robert, leanin' towards him savage.

"That is one of my more reputable accomplishments," says Bunny. "But