This seemed to
damp his courage more than if I had sprung up and shown fight. The
man had a somewhat formidable appearance, however, as regards build,
which showed that he possessed more than average strength. It was the
manifest genuineness of my laugh that gave him pause. And when I sat
with my elbows on the table and my face between my palms, taking
stock of him quietly, he looked extremely puzzled. The man of the
musical voice sat and looked at me as though under a spell.
'I am a young man from the country,' I said to him. 'To what theatre
is your histrionic friend attached? I should like to see him in a
better farce than this.'
'Do you hear that, De Castro?' said the other. 'What is your
theatre?'
'If he is really excited,' I said, 'tell him that people at a public
supper-room should speak in a moderate tone or their conversation is
likely to be overheard.'
'Do you hear this young man from the country, De Castro?' said he.
'You seem to be the Oraculum of the hay-fields, sir,' he continued,
turning to me with a delightfully humorous expression on his face.
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