She drew Maître Delarue towards the clock, and said with even greater animation:
"This is Maître Delarue, the notary. You understand? If you don't, I can speak English—and Italian—and Javanese."
All four of them protested that they understood French.
"Excellent. We shall understand one another better. Then this is Maître Delarue; he is the notary, the man who has been instructed to preside at our meeting. In France notaries represent the dead. So that since it is a dead man who brings us together, you see how important Maître Delarue's position is in the matter. You don't grasp it? How funny that is! To me it is all so clear—and so amusing. So strange! It's the prettiest adventure I ever heard of—and the most thrilling. Think now! We all belong to the same family.... We're by way of being cousins. Then we ought to be joyful like relations who have come together. And all the more because—yes: I'm right—all four of you are decorated.... The French Croix de Guerre. Then all four of you have fought?... Fought in France?... You have defended my dear country?"
She shook hands with all of them, with an air of affection, and since the American and the Italian displayed an equal warmth, of a sudden, with a spontaneous movement, she rose on tip-toe and kissed them on both cheeks.
"Welcome cousin from America ... welcome cousin from Italy ... welcome to my country. And to you two also, greetings. It's settled that we're comrades—friends—isn't it?"
The atmosphere was charged with joy and that good humor which comes from being young and full of life. They felt themselves to be really of the same family, scattered members brought together. They no longer felt the constraint of a first meeting. They had known one another for years and years—for ages! cried Dorothy, clapping her hands. So the four men surrounded her, at once attracted by her charm and lightheartedness, and surprised by the light she brought into the obscure story which so suddenly united them to one another. All barriers were swept away. There was none of that slow infiltration of feeling which little by little fills you with trust and sympathy, but the sudden inrush of the most unreserved comradeship. Each wished to please and each felt that he did please.
Dorothy separated them and set them in a row as if about to review them.
"I'll take you in turn, my friends. Excuse me, Monsieur Delarue, I'll do the questioning and verify their credentials. Number one, the gentleman from America, who are you? Your name?"
The American answered: