But a strange cry, which seemed to come from one of the rose-shaped openings which supplied the gallery with ventilation, woke him abruptly. He instinctively raised his head and fancied that he saw a faint light on the ceiling. The figures painted thereon seemed to move for an instant. Another cry, fainter than the first, but so peculiar that Michel was perturbed by it and moved to the lowest depths of his being, sounded over his head. Then the light vanished. The silence and darkness became so intense that he wondered if he had not dreamed.
Another quarter of an hour passed, during which Michel, excited by what had just happened, did not think of going to sleep again. He feared that his father was in some danger which he could not define. He was horrified at the thought that he himself was a captive and unable to assist him. He examined all the doors and found them all securely locked. He dared not make any noise, for, after all, it was a woman's voice that he had heard, and he could not understand what connection there could be between that cry and his own situation or Pier-Angelo's.
At last the mysterious door opened, and Pier-Angelo appeared, carrying a candle whose flickering light imparted a fantastic appearance to the statues upon which it fell one after another. When he stood beside Michel, he said in a low voice: "We are saved; the cardinal is in his dotage, and Abbé Ninfo knows nothing of our affairs. The princess, for whom I was compelled to wait a long while, because she had people about her, is of the opinion that we should make no sort of mystery about you. She thinks that that would be worse than simply to announce your return without any affectation. So we will go back to your sister, who is undoubtedly anxious because I am so late. But we have quite a little walk, and I suppose you are dying of hunger and thirst. The steward of the household, who is very kind to me, told me to take you to a little buttery, where we shall find something to eat."
Michel followed his father to a room which had on one side a glass door with a curtain covering the glass outside. This room, which was in no wise remarkable, was lighted by several candles, a fact which astonished Michel somewhat. Pier-Angelo, observing his surprise, said that it was a room where the princess's first lady's-maid came every night to superintend the preparation of her mistress's supper. With that he unceremoniously began to open cupboards and take out cold meats, preserves, wine, fruit, and innumerable delicacies which he placed helter-skelter on the table, laughing at each new discovery he made in those inexhaustible cupboards—all to the unbounded amazement of Michel, who failed to recognize his father's customary discretion and pride.
V
THE CASINO
"Well," said Pier-Angelo, "don't you propose to help me? You sit there with your arms folded and allow your father to wait on you! Do at least take the trouble to eat and drink yourself!"
"Excuse me, dear father, you seem to me to do the honors of the house with a self-possession which I admire, but which I should not dare to imitate. You also seem to me to be very much at home here."
"I am more comfortable here than at home," rejoined Pier-Angelo, nibbling at the wing of a chicken, and offering the other wing to his son. "Don't expect me to give you such suppers often. But make the most of this one without false shame; I told you that the majordomo authorized me to do this."
"The majordomo is simply a higher servant who pilfers like all the others, and invites his friends to make themselves comfortable at his mistress's expense. Excuse me, father, but this supper is distasteful to me; my appetite has all disappeared at the thought that we are stealing the princess's supper; for these Japanese plates filled with delicious sweetmeats were not intended for our mouths, nor even for that of his highness the majordomo."
"Well, if I must tell you, that is true; but it was the princess herself who bade me eat her supper, because she is not hungry to-night, and she supposed that you would have some reluctance to sup with her servants."