“What time is it?”
“Nearly morning.”
“Still storming?”
“No; stars out and warmer.”
Aladdin thought a moment.
“Manners,” he said, “please talk to me. How did you find me?”
“Simply enough,” said Manners. “I took the senator’s cutter out for a little drive, and got lost. Then I heard somebody laughing, and I stumbled over you and your horse; that’s all. How the devil did you manage to lose your saddle and bridle?”
“It was a dead horse,” said Aladdin, and he shivered at the recollection.
“Quite so,” said Manners.
“It was the funniest thing,” said Aladdin, and again he shuddered with a kind of reminiscent revolt. “I pushed it, and it fell over frozen to death.” He was conscious of talking nonsense.