"Don't mention it," he said.

"You should learn how to carry your liquor in your legs." Suddenly he changed from apology to attack.

He talked at them with a cheerful scorn, a deprecating impertinence, as though they were children; he chided them with patient imprecations.

This confused them for a moment and cleared a small space around him.

There was no defiance in his aspect, no aggressiveness of manner; he was as quiet as though it were a drawing-room and he a master of monologues.