As he stared in perplexity at the coachman's pale,
terrified face, the sound of tramping feet and
clanking metal came along the corridor, and he
suddenly realized the truth.
"For me?" he asked coolly.
"For you! Oh, signorino, make haste! What
have you to hide? See, I can put----"
"I have nothing to hide. Do my brothers
know?"
The first uniform appeared at the turn of the
passage.
"The signor has been called; all the house is
awake. Alas! what a misfortune--what a terrible
misfortune! And on Good Friday! Holy Saints,
have pity!"
Gian Battista burst into tears. Arthur moved
a few steps forward and waited for the gendarmes,
who came clattering along, followed by a shivering
crowd of servants in various impromptu costumes.
As the soldiers surrounded Arthur, the
master and mistress of the house brought up the
rear of this strange procession; he in dressing
gown and slippers, she in a long peignoir, with her
hair in curlpapers.
"There is, sure, another flood toward, and these
couples are coming to the ark! Here comes a
pair of very strange beasts!"
The quotation flashed across Arthur's mind as
he looked at the grotesque figures.
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