Of course I could do nothing but wait until she had finished, for I could not beat her, and I would not let her think that she could drive me away by mere talk, bad as it was." "What did she call you ?" asked Dumnoff, with a grin.
"She called me a good-for-nothing," said the Count, reddening with anger again, so that the veins stood out on his throat above his collar.

"And she called me, I think, an adventurer." "Is that all ?" laughed Dumnoff.

"I have been called by worse names than that in my time!" "I have not," answered the Count, with sudden coolness.

"However, between me and Fischelowitz and the Gigerl, she grew so angry that she struck the only one of us three against whom she dared lift hand.

That member of the company chanced to be the unfortunate doll.