s summons was not speedy in coming. And from this
delay, arose my unhealthy exasperation.

"Did I have any lucid moments in the course of these hours? I do not
think so. I do not recall having even said to myself, 'What, aren't
you ashamed? Captive in an unheard of situation, you not only are not
trying to escape, but you even bless your servitude and look forward
to your ruin.' I did not even color my desire to remain there, to
enjoy the next step in the adventure, by the pretext I might have
given--unwillingness to escape without Morhange. If I felt a vague
uneasiness at not seeing him again, it was not because of a desire to
know that he was well and safe.

"Well and safe, I knew him to be, moreover. The Tuareg slaves of
Antinea's household were certainly not very communicative. The women
were hardly more loquacious. I heard, it is true, from Sydya and
Aguida, that my companion liked pomegranates or that he could not
endure _kouskous_ of bananas. But if I asked for a different kind of
information, they fled, in fright, down the long corridors. With
Tanit-Zerga, it was different. This child seemed to have a distaste
for mentioning before me anything bearing in any way upon Antinea.
Nevertheless, I knew that she was devoted to her mistress with a
doglike fidelity. But she maintained an obstinate silence if I
pronounced her name or, persisting, the name of Morhange.

"As for the Europeans, I did not care to question these sinister
puppets. Besides, all three were difficult of approach. The Hetman of
Jitomir was sinking deeper and deeper into alcohol. What intelligence
remained to him, he seemed to have dissolved the evening when he had
invoked his youth for me. I met him from time to time in the corridors
that had become all at once too narrow for him, humming in a thick
voice a couplet from the music of _La Reine Hortense_.

_De ma fille Isabelle
Sois l'epoux a l'instant,
Car elle est la plus belle
Et toi, le plus vaillant_.

"As for Pastor Spardek, I would cheerfully have killed the old
skinflint. And the hideous little man with the decorations, the placid
printer of labels for the red marble hall,--how could I meet him
without wanting to cry out in his face: 'Eh! eh! Sir Professor, a very
curious case of apocope: [Greek: Atlantinea]. Suppression of _alpha_,
of _tau_ and of _lambda_! I would like to direct your attention to
another case as curious: [Greek: klementinea], Clementine. Apocope of
_kappa_, of _lamb