"No; stay! stay!"
"Very well."
Sir Asinus laid down his violin; and stretching himself, said carelessly:
"I shouldn't be surprised if you had brought some dun in your train. Decidedly you possess the gettatura—that faculty called the Evil Eye."
The step ascended.
"Who is it—whose heavy step can that be?" said Sir Asinus, rising; "it is not Randolph: it might be yours coming from Belle-bouche's——"
Sir Asinus caught sight of a large cocked hat rising from beneath, followed by a substantial person.
"O Heaven!" he cried, "it's Doctor Small! The door—the door!"
"Too late!" said Jacques, laughing; "the Doctor will find the stairs suddenly darkened if you close the door; and then he will know you are not absent, only playing him a trick!"
"True! true!" cried Sir Asinus in despair; "where shall I go? I am lost!"