“But–”
“And did you really suppose I was going home to bed just as the fun was at its height? There again you’re simpler than I thought. Land! Don’t I wish now that I had gone home!”
“And you–”
“We’d heard so much from everybody of the pranks they play at these vegliones of yours that we wanted to play one, too–we wanted to intrigue you and a lot of other people. The trouble seems to be we did it too well. Land! I wish I hadn’t done it! I wish Heaven I’d consulted you, or some one–We hatched it all up with Italo and Clotilde.”
“Italo and Clotilde!”
“They were the two who came into the box and didn’t say a word, for fear of being known by their voices. Then, after you had so politely seen us off, Estelle and I in the carriage put on black dominos and crows’ beaks, and after driving around a couple of blocks came back and found Italo and Clotilde waiting for us. Clotilde had put off her black domino in the dressing-room; she was dressed under it exactly like her brother. D’you see now how we worked it? Estelle took Clotilde’s arm, and I took Italo’s; we separated and kept apart, and it was as if there had only been one couple, the same as there had been since the beginning of the evening.”
“I see.”
“I’ve been dying to tell you about it ever since, but I 256just haven’t told you. I don’t know what I was waiting for. I guess I was enjoying letting you stay fooled. I had the greatest time, bad cess to it! talking to some people I knew and to a lot that I didn’t. Italo would whisper to me beforehand what to say, and I’d say it. I didn’t always know what it was about, but nothing was further from my mind than to wish to insult anybody. I was so excited I didn’t always notice what I did say, it just seemed playful and funny and in the spirit of the rest. I went up to Charlie Hunt and spoke to him. I put a flea in his ear, and I’m positive from his face that he didn’t know me. I came near going up to you when you were talking with that Mr. Guerra, but I was too much afraid you’d recognize me; you’re so sharp, and, then, you’re the one most particularly who has heard me talk with my English accent, which I put on on the night of the veglione so as not to be known.”
“Your English accent? That explains.”
“What?”