He returned it with a boy's impertinence.

"We none of us grow thin on it," he said with a glance at the other's bulk.
Basterga's eyes gleamed.

"Grease and dish-washings," he exclaimed.

And then, as if he knew where he could most easily wound his antagonist, he turned to the girl.
"If Hebe had brought such liquor to Jupiter," he sneered, "do you think he had given her Hercules for a husband, as I shall presently give you Grio?
Ha! You flush at the prospect, do you?
You colour and tremble," he continued mockingly, "as if it were the wedding-day.

You'll sleep little to-night, I see, for thinking of your Hercules!" With grim irony he pointed to his loutish companion, whose gross purple face seemed the coarser for the small peaked beard that, after the fashion of the day, adorned his lower lip.