Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 2.djvu/102

 'Don't say that—he's going to introduce us to Hoffendahl!' Schinkel exclaimed, putting away his pipe in a receptacle almost as large as a fiddlecase.

'Should you like to see the genuine article, Robinson?' Muniment asked, with the same unusual absence of jocosity in his tone.

'The genuine article?' Hyacinth looked from one of his companions to the other.

'You have never seen it yet—though you think you have.'

'And why haven't you shown it to me before?'

'Because I had never seen you on the stump.' This time Muniment smiled.

'Bother the stump! I was trusting you.'

'Exactly so. That gave me time.'

'Don't come unless your mind is made up, mon petit,' said Poupin.

'Are you going now—to see Hoffendahl?' Hyacinth, cried.

'Don't shout it all over the place. He wants a genteel little customer like you,' Muniment went on.

'Is it true? Are we all going?' Hyacinth demanded eagerly.

'Yes, these two are in it; they are not very artful, but they are safe,' said Muniment, looking at Poupin and Schinkel.

'Are you the genuine article, Muniment?' asked Hyacinth, catching this look.

Muniment dropped his eyes on him; then he said, 'Yes, you're the boy he wants. It's at the other end of London; we must have a growler.'