Robineau appeared at the window of his apartment in his silk nightcap, the marquis in one of cotton, Eudoxie half-wrapped in a pelisse, Cornélie in a lace-trimmed dressing jacket, Mademoiselle Cheval in déshabillé, Jeannette in a mob cap; the scullions also showed themselves in the windows in the roof.
"What’s the matter? what’s up now?" asked Robineau.
"Why this uproar?" said Cornélie.
"Is this château bewitched?" said Eudoxie.
"A body can’t dream comfortably here," said the cook.
"Son-in-law," said Monsieur de la Pincerie, "I order you to go down and thrash the miscreants who are disturbing my sleep."
"Monsieur le marquis, I am distressed to have awakened you," said Alfred, "but I do not believe that anyone will thrash me for that."
"What! is it Alfred who is making this disturbance?"
"My dear fellow, go back to bed with your wife; there are no thieves or ghosts in the château. It is possible, however, that there may be someone hidden in the old tower; and it is that someone that I propose to arrest."
"Someone hidden in my house!"