An unsophisticated youth from the country would
certainly have been dazzled; but it would not do to examine these
things too closely. There was more cotton than silk in the velvet
covering of the furniture; and if various statuettes placed on
brackets at a certain height had been closely inspected, it would
have been found that they were of mere plaster, hidden beneath a
coating of green paint, sprinkled with copper filings. This
plaster, playing the part of bronze, was in perfect keeping with
the man, his system, and the present age.
When the doctor reached home, his first question to his servant
was as usual: "Has any one called?"
"No one."
The doctor sighed, and passing through his superb waiting-room, he
entered his consulting sanctum, and seated himself in the chimney
corner beside an infinitesimal fire. He was even more thoughtful
than usual. The scene which he had just witnessed at the Count de
Chalusse's house recurred to his mind, and he turned it over and
over again in his brain, striving to find some way by which he
might derive an advantage from the mystery. For he was more than
ever convinced that there was a mystery. He had been engrossed in
these thoughts for some time, when his meditations were disturbed
by a ring at the bell. Who could be calling at this hour?
The question was answered by his servant, who appeared and
informed him that a lady, who was in a great hurry, was waiting in
the reception-room.
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