“I have wondered,” said the Prophet, gazing at the couple before him with shining eyes. “But it was dressed last night, and that made it exceptionally dangerous in some way. Something seemed to tell me so. Something did tell me so.”
“What told you?” inquired Madame, with more excitement and a certain respect which had been quite absent from her manner before.
“Something that came in the night. I don’t know what it was. Light flashed from it.”
“It sounds like a sort of comet, my darling,” said Mr. Sagittarius, considerably perturbed. “We didn’t observe that the Crab was specially dressed, did we?”
“It had nothing on at all when we saw it,” said Madame with growing agitation. “But whatever was this comet that flashed light? That’s what I want to get at.”
“It was a dark thing that told me the Crab was dressed, that my grandmother had been with it and that its influence was inimical to her.”
“A dark thing! That’s not a comet!” said Mr. Sagittarius.
“It vanished with a flash of light into the square.”
“At what time did you observe it, sir?” asked Mr. Sagittarius, while Madame leaned forward, gazing with goggling eyes at the Prophet.
“At exactly half-past one.”