"T. E. Stube, M.D.
"Argentine D'Odd, Esq.,
The Elms, Brixton."
X
THE MAN WITH THE PALE EYES
Guy de Maupassant
Monsieur Pierre Agénor de Vargnes, the Examining Magistrate, was the exact opposite of a practical joker. He was dignity, staidness, correctness personified. As a sedate man, he was quite incapable of being guilty, even in his dreams, of anything resembling a practical joke, however remotely. I know nobody to whom he could be compared, unless it be the present president of the French Republic. I think it is useless to carry the analogy any further, and having said thus much, it will be easily understood that a cold shiver passed through me when Monsieur Pierre Agénor de Vargnes did me the honour of sending a lady to await on me.
At about eight o'clock, one morning last winter, as he was leaving the house to go to the Palais de Justice, his footman handed him a card, on which was printed:
Doctor James Ferdinand,
Member of the Academy of Medicine,
Port-au-Prince,
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
At the bottom of the card there was written in pencil: From Lady Frogère.