I burst out laughing, for his antics seemed absurd.
My laughter cooled him, and he made a great effort to regain his composure.

But I began to rally him.
"Mayn't a man know how to say in French 'He comes' without stealing the knowledge from your book, sir ?" I asked.

"You do us wrong if you think that so much is known to nobody in England." He glared at me like a man who hears a jest, but cannot tell whether it conceals earnest or not.
"Open the case, sir," I continued in raillery.

"Make sure all is there.
Come, you owe me that much." To my amazement he obeyed me.

He opened the case and searched through certain papers which it contained; at the end he sighed as though in relief, yet his suspicious air did not leave him.
"Now perhaps, sir," said I, squaring my elbows, "you'll explain the comedy." That he could not do.