"Eh?" The Governor turned.
"I thank your Excellency! Your Excellency is most kind!" said the mountebank in a loud, emphatic tone.
"And her ladyship?" prompted the officer.
The clown looked at the girl; her breath came fast through her parted lips.
"Speak, fool! To her ladyship you also owe much."
"Much!" repeated the clown, a spark in the dull gaze still fastened upon her.
"Is that all you can say?"
"Take him away!" My lady spoke almost wildly.
"Yes; take him away!" With a querulous gesture his Excellency put an end to the matter. "Am I to be interrupted in important affairs by every miserable farceur, or buffoon, you pick up on the beach? To the devil with the fellow!"
When the door had closed on the mountebank and the commandant, he turned to his daughter. "A madcap trick!" Frowningly his Excellency regarded her. "To have gone into the town and mingled with the rabble! But," shaking his head and then suffering that expression of disapproval to relax into severity, "say no more about it! Here," indicating the letter, "is something of greater moment, to be attended to and answered!"