"_Enfant, si j'étais Roi, je donnerais l'empire, Et mon char, et mon sceptre, et mes peuples à genoux, Et mon couronne d'or, et mes bains de porphyre._"
"I am coming back," said Mr. Spokesly, "but I must see if my boat is ready."
"You don't need any boat," said Mr. Jokanian. "We are going back in my carriage. Mr. Lietherthal goes with us. I have invited him."
"_Pour un regard de vous!_" sang the voice, and trembled into a passionate intricacy of arpeggios.
"I shall not be long," he repeated. "I must tell my man I sha'n't need it, in that case."
He felt he must get out of there at once, if only for a moment. This combination of wine and music was becoming too much for him. As he came out into the courtyard he heard Victor Hugo's superb challenge ring out:
"_Enfant, si j'étais Dieu, je donnerais le Ciel!_"
He walked quickly along in the profound shadow of the Rue Parallel until he reached the great doors of the Passage Kraemer. Here he might have seen, had he been watchful, in a corner by the disused elevator of the hotel, the young Jew talking to a girl in cap and apron. The youth saw him and clutched his companion's arm.
"Madama's husband," he whispered. "The Englishman."
"Well," said the girl, bending her dark brows upon the figure hurrying out upon the quay, "I think your Madama is a fool."
"S-sh!" whimpered the young man. "She is the most glorious creature in the world."
"And a fool," repeated the girl. "That other upstairs in Suite Fourteen will desert her in a month. I know his style. He only left the last one in Kara-hissar, so his servant told us. I know if _I_ had a chance of marrying an Englishman.... Yes! She has got you anyhow," she added, laughing. "You are like a cony in love with a snake."
He put up his hand in warning, as though he feared by some occult power Madama would hear these rash and sacrilegious words. He took out a tiny piece of paper and looked at it.
"I must go," he said. "You are certain it is this Frank, who has come?" he urged anxiously.
"Yes," she said, smiling contemptuously. "When I passed him in the corridor, he put his arm round me and said he would love me for ever. You can tell your Madama if you like."
Mr. Spokesly, unaware of this conversation, made his way out, and was on the point of crossing the quay by the custom house when Mr. Cassar, who was drinking a glass of syrup at the café opposite, ran over and accosted him.