The three men went up and were ushered into the finest room of the inn, in which the Officer received them, stretched on an armchair, his feet resting on the mantelpiece, and smoking a long porcelain pipe, wrapped in a flamboyant dressing-robe, no doubt stolen from the abandoned residence of some bourgeois lacking in taste. He did not get up, neither did he greet them nor look at them. He was a magnificent specimen of the insolence natural to victorious soldiers.
After a few seconds, he said in his defective French:
—"What do you want?"
The Count spoke:—"We wish to continue our journey, Sir."
—"No!"
—"May I inquire what is the reason for this refusal?"
—"Because I don't want."
—"I would respectfully call your attention to the fact, Sir, that your General in chief has delivered us a permit to go to Dieppe, and I don't think we did anything to deserve your rigors."
—"I don't want to let you go, that is all; you may retire!"
Having bowed, all three retired.