"Is that your idea, Antoine, or do you reflect the lady's sentiments? I'm properly humiliated either way. Tell me just what she said."
"Well, sir, she just laughed when I took the liberty of apologizing."
"The sneering laughter of outraged dignity! Go ahead and give me the rest of it."
"It was at ten she came, sir, and the guard held her up, not recognizing her, here at the gate, and when the car didn't stop the boys chased her and fired at the tires of her machine. It was very dreadful, sir. And at the house--at the door, sir--the guard was very harsh with her, sir, most regrettable."
"You certainly made a mess of it!" I ejaculated. "But you did let her in--into her own house, we must remember--you did grant her the courtesy of a lodging for the night?" I inquired ironically.
"She's retired, sir. There was a lady with her; maybe a maid; I can't exactly say; and we did everything, sir, to make her comfortable. She was not what you might say fussy, sir, but quite human-like. We was all relieved, sir, the way she took everything. I hope you'll pardon us, sir, which was due to not being warned."
"Oh, it's all right with me, but in the morning she'll probably bounce the whole lot of us. An old lady fatigued from a journey cross country and shot at on her own premises--it's a very pretty story."
They were a picturesque lot, the ancient waiters and bell-hops grouped about Antoine with their lanterns and garden implements and firearms. Antoine was swallowing hard in his effort to continue his recital.
"You say an old lady, sir; the mistress is not really what you would call so old--not exactly, sir."
"Really a youngish party, I should say," volunteered Graves, the gardener.
Just what these veterans would call old was a matter of conjecture. "Um," I murmured, and considered the situation.
"Young or old, she would hardly relish her reception. There was a maid, and they came in a machine? Did you put up the chauffeur or did you shoot him on the spot?"
"It was a hired machine, sir; and madame sent it away. The driver was a good deal upset over the shooting. One of the rear tires was quite blown away."
"You're in luck if he doesn't have you all arrested to-morrow," I remarked consolingly.