“Really, how callous you are! Do I know anything about it! But I had
it!”
“No!” One’s sister!
“But of course I had it! It is amazing when one’s own brother is quite
unaware that one has been through endless pain and torture.”
“Not pain and torture,” I said. “A little bird told me.”
“But I am not responsible for your feathered friends! I was as good as
dead, that’s all I know.”
“But, my dear, that was when you were having a baby! I was in Vienna.”
“So you said. But, of course, it came on after I had a baby. One does
not get septic poisoning for nothing. I nearly died, I can tell you.”
“_Vestiaire, monsieur?_”
“...Oh, I see. A baby. After that....”
“I have never been so hungry in my life,” my sister said, “and you talk
to me of septic poisoning. I suppose you think you will destroy my
appetite and therefore the bill will be less. I will begin with
caviare.”
“Septic poisoning,” I said, “did not kill you, that is the point. You
cannot imagine how glad I am. Let us eat caviare.”