“Oh, insane, I tell you! absolutely insane! mad as a March hare! Two days ago, you see—”
“Well, what? two days ago?”
“Because, two days ago!—”
“Well, what? What is it? Speak, Vogotzine!”
“The despatch,” stammered the General.
“What despatch?”
“The des—despatch from Florence.”
“She has received a despatch from Florence?”
“A telegram—blue paper—she read it before me; upon my word, I thought it was from you! She said—no; those miserable bits of paper, it is astonishing how they alarm you. There are telegrams which have given me a fit of indigestion, I assure you—and I haven’t the heart of a chicken!”
“Go on! Marsa? This despatch? Whom was it from? What did Marsa say?”