I received him in the smaller smoking-room, where we were alone, and were still sitting there when Alphonse came.

It was quite evident that the little Frenchman appreciated the great English club.
"Now, in Paris," he said, "we copy all this.

But it is not the same thing.

We have our clubs, but they are quite different--they are but cafes--and why ?" He looked at us in the deepest distress.
"Because," I suggested, "you are by nature too sociable.

Frenchman cannot meet without being polite to each other, so the independence of a club is lost.