implicity.
In the recess, in which stood the bed, hung a trophy composed of the
arms used by the marshal during his campaigns. On the secretary opposite
was a small bronze bust of the emperor, the only ornament of the
apartment. Out of doors the temperature was far from warm, and the
marshal had become susceptible to cold during his long residence in
India. A good fire therefore blazed upon the hearth. A door, concealed
by the hangings, and leading to a back staircase, opened slowly, and
a man entered the chamber. He carried a basket of wood, and advanced
leisurely to the fireplace, before which he knelt clown, and began to
arrange the logs symmetrically in a box that stood besides the hearth.
After some minutes occupied in this manner, still kneeling, he gradually
approached another door, at a little distance from the chimney, and
appeared to listen with deep attention, as if he wished to hear what was
passing in the next room.

This man, employed as an inferior servant in the house, had the most
ridiculously stupid look that can be imagined. His functions consisted
in carrying wood, running errands, etc. In other respects he was a kind
of laughing-stock to the other servants. In a moment of good humor,
Dagobert, who filled the post of major-domo, had given this idiot the
name of "Loony" (lunatic), which he had retained ever since, and which
he deserved in every respect, as well for his awkwardness and folly as
for his unmeaning face, with its grotesquely flat nose, sloping chin,
and wide, staring eyes. Add to this description a jacket of red stuff,
and a triangular white apron, and we must acknowledge that the simpleton
was quite worthy of his name.

Yet, at the moment when Loony listened so attentively at the door of the
adjoining room, a ray of quick intelligence animated for an instant his
dull and stupid countenance.

When he had thus listened for a short time, Loony returned to the
fireplace, still crawling on his knees; then rising, he again took his
basket half full of wood, and once more approaching the door at which
he had listened knocked discreetly. No one answered. He knocked a second
time, and more loudly. Still there was the same silence.

Then he said, in a harsh, squeaking, laughable voice: "Ladies, do you
want any wood, if you please, for your fire?"

Receiving no answer, Loony placed his basket on the ground, opened the
door gently, and entered the next room, after casting a rapid glance
around