“That other monsieur” was farther described as a thin man, handsome, but with a “singular air,” nor could my colleague more satisfactorily define this air, though he made a racking struggle to do so.
“In what does the peculiarity of his manner lie?” I asked.
“But it is not so much that his manner is peculiar, monsieur; it is an air about him that is singular. Truly!”
“But how is it singular?”
“Monsieur, it is very, very singular.”
“You do not understand,” I insisted. “What kind of singularity has the air of ‘that other monsieur’?”
“It has,” replied Amedee, with a powerful effort, “a very singular singularity.”
This was as near as he could come, and, fearful of injuring him, I abandoned that phase of our subject.
The valet-de-chambre whom my fellow-lodgers had brought with them from Paris contributed nothing to the inn’s knowledge of his masters, I learned. This struck me not only as odd, but unique, for French servants tell one another everything, and more—very much more. “But this is a silent man,” said Amedee impressively. “Oh! very silent! He shakes his head wisely, yet he will not open his mouth. However, that may be because”—and now the explanation came—“because he was engaged only last week and knows nothing. Also, he is but temporary; he returns to Paris soon and Glouglou is to serve them.”
I ascertained that although “that other monsieur” had gray hair, he was by no means a person of great age; indeed, Glouglou, who had seen him oftener than any other of the staff, maintained that he was quite young. Amedee’s own opportunities for observation had been limited. Every afternoon the two gentlemen went for a walk; but they always came down from the gallery so quickly, he declared, and, leaving the inn by a rear entrance, plunged so hastily into the nearest by-path leading to the forest, that he caught little more than glimpses of them. They returned after an hour or so, entering the inn with the same appearance of haste to be out of sight, the professor always talking, “with the manner of an orator, but in English.” Nevertheless, Amedee remarked, it was certain that Professor Keredec’s friend was neither an American nor an Englishman. “Why is it certain?” I asked.