"He is making a fool of you and me," he said.

"On the contrary, he has guessed my tastes. Don't you think everything
was very good?"

"I don't deny it, but . . . . "

"Don't be afraid; I love spending my money."

"I beg your pardon, I only want you to be pleased."

We had exquisite wines, and at dessert some ratafia superior to the
Turkish 'visnat' I had tasted seventeen years before at Yussuf Ali's.
When my landlord came up at the end of supper, I told him that he ought
to be Louis XV.'s head cook.

"Go on as you have begun, and do better if you can; but let me have your
bill every morning."

"You are quite right; with such an arrangement one can tell how one is
getting on."

"I should like you always to give me ices, and you must let me have two
more lights. But, unless I am mistaken, those are candles that I see. I
am a Venetian, and accustomed to wax lights."

"That is your servant's fault, sir."

"How is that?"