Meantime Farnsworth, who had given Alice his own apartment, took
what rest he could on the cold ground under a leaky shed hard by.
His wound, not yet altogether healed, was not benefited by the
exposure.
In due time next morning Hamilton ordered Alice brought to his
office, and when she appeared he was smiling with as near an
approach to affability as his disposition would permit. He rose
and bowed like a courtier.
"I hope you rested well, Mademoiselle," he said in his best
French. He imagined that the use of her language would be
agreeable to begin with.
The moment that Alice saw him wearing that shallow veneering of
pleasantness on his never prepossessing visage, she felt a mood of
perversity come over her. She, too. smiled, and he mistook her
expression for one of reciprocal amenity. She noticed that her
sword was on his table.
"I am sorry, Monsieur, that I cannot say as much to you," she
glibly responded. "If you lay upon a bed of needles the whole
night through, your rest was better than you deserved. My own
sleep was quite refreshing, thank you."
Instantly Hamilton's choler rose. He tried to suppress it at
first; but when he saw Alice actually laughing, and Farnsworth
(who had brought her in) biting his lip furiously to keep from
adding an uproarious guffaw, he lost all hold of himself.
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