“What does the old man want of us with his frock-coat and tall hat?”
But M. Loigny paid no attention to the servant whom his fashionable disguise stirred to such wrath.
He had just stopped short before a bowl of roses which bloomed in the middle of the table. Bending over them he examined them so closely that it seemed as if he were sniffing at them, and all at once he began to show signs of great stupefaction. Madame Guibert found him in this curious state. He scarcely bowed to her, and leading her up to the flowers he cried:
“Do you see that?”
“Yes,” said she, surprised.
“How did you get it?”
“I don’t know, Monsieur Loigny.”
“It is quite impossible that you shouldn’t know. Come, tell me!”
And then, less brutally, the eccentric little man added:
“I beg of you, Madame; it is very serious.”