"Sally," he whispered after a time,
"whisky--quick!" And when she got the decanter he drank half a
tumblerful without a gasp.
"Fiddle string in his leg!" he grinned to himself at last. "Maybe
it won't make him dance, but I'll bet a thousand dollars he'd never
have danced again without it!"
When at last Josephine found her own room she discovered her maid
Jeanne, waiting for her, fright still in her face.
"Madame!" exclaimed Jeanne, "it is terrible! What horrors there
are in this place. What has been done--is it true that Monsieur
has lost both his legs? But one, perhaps? For the man with one
leg, it is to be said that he is more docile, which is to be
desired. But both legs--"
"It is not true, Jeanne. There has been surgery, but perhaps Mr.
Dunwody will not even be a cripple. He may get well--it is still
doubtful."
"How then was it possible, Madame, for you to endure such sights?
But is it not true, how the _Bon Dieu_ punishes the wicked? For
myself, I was in terror--even though I was some distance away; and
although that young gentleman, Monsieur Hector, was so good as to
hold my hand.
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