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.”“True! Wonderful, pure genius!”“Count,” Sandoval intervened, “would it be terribly indiscreet if I asked you to show me this letter?”“Of course not.Here it is.”He drew it from his pocket and gave it to Sandoval.The painter immersed himself in studying the text.Meanwhile Marcelle called Antas to the other side of the deck to show him something.Sandoval exchanged the letter for another that St Germain had written that morning.It had not been very difficult to concoct a very similar-looking one as the Major had typed his letter on Sandoval’s writing paper—a ‘chance event’ that St Germain was not of course aware of.When the Count returned, Sandoval gave him the second letter, carefully placed back inside the envelope.The Count didn’t look inside, but simply stuffed it into his pocket.They arrived at Burano.When they had seen what there was to see, they sat down to lunch.Antas, as we have already mentioned, would happily drink alcohol whatever the time of day.Now he set about it with gusto.Amorousness and a loyal nostalgia for home induced an even greater thirst in him, and Marcelle and Sandoval did little to discourage him.“Tell me, Count, are you on good terms with this Coltor?” Marcelle asked.“On good terms? My dear, I might say that he was frankly eating out of my hand on his last visit to Alturia.We caroused together every night.The only problem was that the poor little chap couldn’t hold his liquor.He got drunk immediately and talked total rubbish from then on.”“How interesting.And how did you address each other? Were you on first-name terms?”“But of course we were,” Antas fibbed, seeing how much this seemed to impress Marcelle.“It was always things like ‘my dear boy’.”“He called Coltor his ‘dear boy’! Did you hear that, Sandoval? Wonderful! And you would just go up to him and pat him on the cheek like that, and say things like ‘What ho! my dear boy,’ and that sort of thing?”“But of course.Coltor loved my informal manner, and my eternal good humour.”“But that I can’t believe, Count, if you will forgive me.These Norlandians are so dour, and so very reserved, it just isn’t possible to talk to them like that,” said Sandoval.“What’s that? You don’t believe me? And do you believe me, Marcelle?”“I’m not sure.”“But that’s how it was.”“Well, let’s see.Let’s go to him right now, and you can show us it’s true.Pat him on the cheek, and give him the old ‘What ho!’ then.”“All right.Let’s go!” Antas roared, in his drunken overconfidence.“And I’ll tell you something else.You think I’m scared of Coltor? What a joke.Me, afraid of a common merchant? I can do what I want with him, whatever I feel like.So there.You’ll see.”He was no more sober on the boat going back, and when they got to the Lido Sandoval and Marcelle made doubly sure by getting him to drink two bottles of maraschino before going up to meet Coltor.Sandoval sat in the foyer to await the outcome.When Antas presented his card to Coltor’s secretary, the man spent a moment staring in astonishment at his blurred features and uncertain bearing, but after St Germain’s triumphant incursion he simply dared not risk denying immediate entry to any Alturian.He felt sure that any news of that country would now be of even greater interest to his boss.And so it happened that a few moments later Antas marched into his room, with Marcelle at his side.Coltor came up to him and bowed politely.“Hello, my dear boy,” Antas bellowed, using the full power of his lungs, and patting Coltor on the cheek as he stood there stock still in surprise.“So then, what ho, what ho?” was the next bellowed question, accompanied by a knowing sideways glance at Marcelle.“Do you still like those smelly cheeses?”Coltor was not easily disconcerted, but by now he had almost completely lost his bearings.He threw an enquiring glance at Marcelle, who gave him a conspiratorial look as if to say it was all Antas’ doing.“Well, er … my dear Count … I am delighted to receive … so glad you’ve come, old pal … ”“I should hope you would be, my dear boy,” Antas boomed.“You certainly would if you knew why I’ve come! Oh yes—and I’ve brought my little niece with me … ” (Coltor bowed to Marcelle) … “who is so splendidly … splendidly charming, and pretty, and clever, and an altogether wonderful young woman … But you only have to look at her, so why I am I telling you this? … So, what do you think of my little niece, my dear boy?”“But Uncle Ugolino,” Marcelle responded modestly, and cast another conspiratorial glance at Coltor.“Take a seat, Count,” said Coltor (by now thoroughly nervous).“Would you like a glass of cold water?”“Water? For an Antas? What are you thinking of, dear boy?”“So then, to what do I owe the honour of this visit?”“To what … ? Wait a sec … I can’t think what it was, right now … Oh yes, now I have it.My dear fellow, I have come to save you.”“To save me? Me? From what?”“My poor old Coltor, you are such a trusting little chap you don’t even know what danger you are in.My boy, I have words to whisper in your ear.Coltor, you are entangled in a swindlers’ net!” he bellowed, inches away from the man’s ear.Coltor leapt back.“What sort of swindlers are you talking about?”“Well, that I can’t exactly say, because, whaddya call it … you know … because, right now, I’m in love.But take a look, here’s the letter, from my good friend Palawer, you’ll find it all in there.”And he handed over the letter.It read:Most respected Mr Coltor,I must ask you to make allowances for my unfortunate friend Count Antas.The events of the Alturian Revolution and the abdication of his beloved monarch disturbed him so much that he has not yet managed to regain his mental balance.He suffers from a number of paranoid delusions: there are swindlers everywhere, he is quite convinced there is conspiracy afoot—which is understandable—and he is forever trying to expose it.He has now asked me to write to you since he absolutely insists on talking to you, to reveal yet another great plot.I felt unable to deny his request, but I am sending his niece to keep an eye on him, and perhaps head off any unseemly behaviour.Again I beg you to make allowances for a sadly afflicted man, and to do your best, in all kindness, to steer well clear of him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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