"What an exaggeration!" said M. de Fierval, laughing; "and this is just the way history is written!"
"Does the dwarf, male or female, exist or not?"
"I am distressed beyond measure, gentlemen, to destroy your delusions. Madame de Lormoy, who, I repeat to you, often visits at the Hôtel Lambert, has only seen a young girl, who is the companion of Madame de Hansfeld; she is very young, and not a negress, but her complexion is very dark, and her features are of the Arab cast."
"No doubt this is the source whence the black and deformed dwarf proceeded."
"What a pity! I do so regret the little negro dwarf; it was so completely of the middle ages!" said M. de Brévannes.
[1]These words have no precise synonyms in English, but they are nearly equivalent to our slang phrase of "out-and-outers."
CHAPTER II
[A RENDEZVOUS]
A tolerably large party of idlers congregated around the large chest on which was seated, as on a throne, the domino of whom we have spoken, listened eagerly to the strange versions which were buzzed about of the mysterious lives of the Prince and Princess de Hansfeld.
Fortunately for the inquisitive these tales were not yet at their conclusion.