“_Merci! Dans cinq minutes je descendrai._”
“_Ne vous pressez pas, et déguisez-vous bien_,” he said, and, leaving the room, went half-way down the ladder. Then he turned and put his head into the room again, resting his elbows on the floor.
“_Dîtes donc, mon bon monsieur_,” he said, evidently at some pains to check his mirth; “_avec qui croyez-vous que votre femme vous trompe?_”
“_Je ne sais pas au juste. Avec un de mes amis, je crois._”
“_Le misérable!_” he cried, theatrically. “_Un Français, sans doute?_”
“_Oh, la, la! Mais les amis sont comme ça. C’est très dur, tout de même. Courage! Je vais préparer le café. Au revoir._”
With so sympathetic a _garde champêtre_ I felt I was in luck, and might as well seize the opportunity for assuming my complete disguise, instead of taking to the woods; so I put on my wig and, with some spirit-gum, stuck on my gray whiskers, lined my face lightly, and, in five minutes, presented myself to the more than ever astonished _garde champêtre_ as a respectable, well preserved, elderly gentleman of sixty.
“_Mais nom d’un chien!_” he cried; “_c’est parfait! Elle ne vous reconnaîtra pas; jamais de la vie!_”
We sat down and drank the coffee, the best friends in the world; and then, giving him a louis and the box of make-up and razors as a souvenir, I left him with a warm shake of the hand, and went off through the wood to strike the Mentone road back into Monte Carlo.
I hadn’t gone twenty paces before he came running after me to say that if ever I wanted to disguise myself again I was to come to him and use his rooms, and that he would always keep the razors in order for the purpose.
“_Mais c’est dur, tout de même_,” he added, sympathetically, as I promised.
The last I saw of him, he turned and waved his hand. “_Adieu, mon vieux!_” he cried. “_Bonne chance!_”
IN MY DISGUISE I AM MISTAKEN FOR LORD B.—A CLUB ACQUAINTANCE— TEDDY AT THE LAW COURTS—MRS. WINGHAM—THE DEFENCE AND THE ACQUITTAL—WE BOLT
BEHOLD me, then, in sexagenarian disguise, trudging back into Monte Carlo, with my mackintosh and umbrella. It was barely nine o’clock in the morning when I started; and, soon after ten, there I was standing once more in front of the Casino buildings, out of which, but a few hours before, I had so triumphantly rushed.