"
"And you stood by without offering to assist her?" demanded the Prince,
with some indignation.
"There was no need, Your Highness," responded Tellier, easily. "In the
first place, she was, of course, in no real danger. In the second place,
I perceived instantly that fate was playing into my hands. In fact, the
incident could not have been more a propos if it had been arranged by my
guardian angel. For from the chair beside which I was stationed a man
sprang out and kicked the dog away. Your Highness must have remarked his
agility and strength--may even have seen his face."
"No," said the Prince. "I was not near enough to see it distinctly."
"I saw it, Your Highness, very distinctly, and I assure you that it was
that of a man in the full enjoyment of health. Even from his agility,
Your Highness could doubtless judge whether the man was seriously ill."
The Prince hitched about in his chair a little impatiently. He was
beginning to find the Frenchman tedious.
"Most certainly he was not seriously ill," he agreed; "nor, I should
say, even slightly so. What is that to me? Pray have done with this
mystery!"
Tellier's face was glowing with all a Frenchman's pride in a coup de
theatre--his moment of triumph had arrived.
"Of all the eyes which witnessed that episode, seemingly so slight and
so unimportant," he said, proudly, "mine were the only ones which saw
its full significance.
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