He opened the first.
"'Have a cigar,' he invited me. 'They smoke between the courses in
this place--proper thing to do.'
"'Sanitary precaution,' I suggested. 'I'll be content with a
cigarette for the present. What are your other disinfectants?'
"He laughed, very suddenly and violently. 'Disinfectants?'
he chortled; 'that's a good 'un! They're exhibits, my dear
sir--pardon-liberty-calling-you-Dear-sir. Stewards collected a
dozen, these infernal machines--'
"'There's no need to shout,' said I. No, Otty I was sober.
. . . But I looked around and it struck me that the faces at the
near tables were bright, and white, and curiously distinct in the
cigarette-smoke.
"'I am not shouting,' Farrell protested: but he was, and at that
moment. 'Disinfectants? That box, there--there's a bottle inside--
sulphuretted hydrogen. T'other joker's a firework of sorts.
I brought 'em along for evidence. . . . Wha's that?' He jerked
himself bolt upright, staring at a dish the waiter held under his
nose.
"'It's the _tete de veau en spaghetti_ you ordered, sir,' said
Giovanni.
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