We bowed, and presently he spoke to me.

In the meantime, he had every forgone item of the dinner served to him as exactly as if he had not been late at table, and sipped his soup with perfect deliberation while others were busy with the sweets.

Our conversation began, of course, with the weather and the place.
"Your first visit to Rouen, I suppose ?" said he.

"Beautiful old city, is it not?
_Garcon_, a pint of Bordeaux-Leoville." I modestly admitted that it was not only my first visit to Rouen, but my first to the Continent.
"Ah, you may go farther than Rouen, and fare worse," said he.

"Do you sketch?
No?
That's a pity, for it's deliciously picturesque--though, for my own part, I am not enthusiastic about gutters and gables, and I object to a population composed exclusively of old women.