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I was glad to have Capi's approval, which was all the more agreeable, because, during the time I had been dressing, Pretty-Heart had seated himself opposite to me, and with exaggerated airs had imitated every movement I had made, and when I was finished put his hands on his hips, threw back his head, and laughed mockingly. It is a scientific question as to whether monkeys laugh or not.
I found them all at the place where I had installed them the night before, and sleeping as though the beautiful barge had been their home for several months. The dogs jumped up as I approached, but Pretty-Heart, although he had one eye half open, did not move; instead he commenced to snore like a trombone.
Putting my harp aside I quickly sat down in the chair at the table; the dogs grouped themselves around me. Pretty-Heart jumped on my knee. "Do your dogs eat bread?" asked Arthur. "Do they eat bread!" I gave them a piece which they devoured ravenously. "And the monkey?" said Arthur.
I was terribly excited. My fate was to be decided. If I had possessed the courage I would have implored Vitalis not to tell Mrs. Milligan that I was a foundling, but I felt that I could not utter the word, even to him. I stood on a corner of the railway station, holding my dogs on a leash, with Pretty-Heart under my coat, and I waited. I saw little of what passed around me.
I am afraid they got Zerbino and Dulcie when they went out, but they did not come in here. It is quite likely that Pretty-Heart was terrified and has hidden himself somewhere while we were outside; that is why I am so anxious. In this terrible weather he will catch cold, and cold is fatal for him." "Well, let us keep on looking." We went over the ground again, but all in vain.
I went to the stables to get the dogs and Pretty-Heart, then strapping my harp on my shoulder I left the inn. I was in a hurry to get out of town, for my dogs were not muzzled. What should I say if I met a policeman? That I had no money? It was the truth; I had only eleven sous in my pocket. That was not enough to buy muzzles. They might arrest me.
As he passed me, he also looked at me over his shoulder in such a comical manner that the people laughed still louder. I thought the matter had gone far enough, so I called Pretty-Heart, but he was in no mood to obey, and continued his walk, running and dodging me when I tried to catch him.
It seemed to me that Pretty-Heart needed warming much more than I, because I was not very cold now. While I laid still under the eiderdown trying to get warm, Vitalis, to the servant's astonishment, turned little Pretty-Heart round and round before the fire as though he were going to roast him. "Are you warm?" Vitalis asked me after a few minutes. "I'm suffocating." "That's right."
I told him that I had, after I had politely spoken to Mrs. Milligan. "And the dogs?" asked Arthur. I called to them; they came running up with Pretty-Heart; the latter making grimaces as he usually did when he thought that we were going to give a performance. Mrs. Milligan had placed her son in the shade and had taken a seat beside him.
It was evident that Pretty-Heart was ill and he must be very ill indeed to refuse the sugared wine that he liked so much. "Drink the wine, Remi, and stay in bed," said Vitalis. "I'll go for a doctor." I must admit that I also liked sugared wine and besides I was very hungry. I did not let him tell me twice to drink it.
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