But I am not his sponsor.

Marny is my friend, and if you prefer not to ..." "Indeed I am entirely at M.Deroulede's service," said the Colonel, who had thrown a quick, scrutinising glance at the isolated figure near the card table, "if he will accept my services ..." "He will be very glad to accept, my dear Colonel," whispered the Marquis with an ironical twist of his aristocratic lips.

"He has no friends in our set, and if you and De Quettare will honour him, I think he should be grateful." M.de Quettare, adjutant to M.le Colonel, was ready to follow in the footsteps of his chief, and the two men, after the prescribed salutations to M.le Marquis de Villefranche, went across to speak to Deroulede.
"If you will accept our services, monsieur," began the Colonel abruptly, "mine, and my adjutant's, M.de Quettare, we place ourselves entirely at your disposal." "I thank you, messieurs," rejoined Deroulede.

"The whole thing is a farce, and that young man is a fool; but I have been in the wrong and ..." "You would wish to apologise ?" queried the Colonel icily.
The worthy soldier had heard something of Deroulede's reputed bourgeois ancestry.

This suggestion of an apology was no doubt in accordance with the customs of the middle-classes, but the Colonel literally gasped at the unworthiness of the proceeding.