The usher who had brought him in had actually to take him out.
Immediately the commonwealth attorney turned again to the servant-girl and said,—
“Now, my good girl, can you tell me if any thing special happened in connection with this gentleman’s visit at your house?”
“There was a great quarrel between him and master and mistress.”
“Were you present?”
“No. But I am quite certain of what I say.”
“How so?”
“Well, I will tell you. When I went up stairs to tell the countess that there was a gentleman below who came from the courts, she was in a great hurry to go down, and told me to stay with the count, my master. Of course, I did what she said. But no sooner was she down than I heard a loud cry. Master, who had looked all in a stupor, heard it too: he raised himself on his pillow, and asked me where my mistress was. I told him, and he was just settling down to try and fall asleep again, when the sound of loud voices came up to us. ‘That is very singular,’ said master. I offered to go down and see what was the matter: but he told me sharply not to stir an inch. And, when the voices became louder and louder, he said, ‘I will go down myself. Give me my dressing-gown.’
“Sick as he was, exhausted, and almost on his deathbed, it was very imprudent in him, and might easily have cost him his life. I ventured to speak to him; but he swore at me, and told me to hush, and to do what he ordered me to do.
“The count—God be merciful to his soul!—was a very good man, certainly; but he was a terrible man also, and when he got angry, and talked in a certain way, everybody in the house began to tremble, even mistress.