monsieur!" and "You come soon back, please!" Then the little horns were heard from a distance; the tom-tom thumped jubilantly away toward the Arab quarter, growing fainter;—only the white camel did anything obnoxious; and the neighbourhood settled down to phlegmatic eventlessness in the warm February sunshine.
The sufferer understood that a stirring and unusual departure had just taken place; it might possibly have been Orthe the Eighteenth and the Princess; but the dimensions of the disturbance indicated something much more important. Ogle became convinced that Tinker and his family had just set out upon their journey to Tunis.
After nightfall, when a valet de chambre came to his room, he had the man bring him some tablets of aspirin, and so presently slept; but when he awoke in the morning he was still feverish, though of the pain in his head there remained only a dulled reminiscence. He felt weak, and, having no interest in anything he might accomplish by rising, remained in bed. However, he sent to the bank agency for his letters and at noon they were brought to him upon a tray of toast and coffee. Only one was of importance to him, and that was the only one he
