The Comtesse de Saint-Prix left Arnica in a state of depression bordering on faintness. When Amédée came in from his walk:
“My dear,” she said to him at once, “I have just heard something extremely sad. The Holy Father has been imprisoned.”
“No, not really?” said Amédée, as if he were saying “pooh!”
Arnica burst into sobs:
“I knew, I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Come, come, darling,” went on Amédée, taking off his overcoat, without which he never went out for fear of a sudden change of temperature. “Just think! Everyone would know if anything had happened to the Holy Father. It would be in all the papers. And who could have imprisoned him?”
“Valentine says it’s the Lodge.”
Amédée looked at Arnica under the impression that she had taken leave of her senses. He said, however:
“The Lodge? What Lodge?”
“How can I tell? Valentine has promised not to say anything about it.”