“And if I had?”
“Pshaw! I had to stay upstairs, for Albina, the dressmaker, had brought my gown for this evening, and all the while I was trembling with impatience, for I wanted to be here. Yesterday evening I told Roberto to wear his gray overcoat, to have Selim harnessed to the cart, and to pass at half-past six. Who knows if he obeyed me!”
“Roberto passed here in the cart, and wearing his gray overcoat.”
“Good gracious! How do you know all this? I thought you were reading?”
“I was in the window.”
“And you recognized Roberto, although you never look at him? Wonderful! Did he bow to you?”
“Yes.”
“How did he take off his hat?”
“Why—as he always does.”
“And you bowed to him?”