...
I quickened my pace, hurried faster and faster, turned suddenly to the
left and found myself, excited and angry, in a light ornate doorway. I did
not pause, not for one second, but the whole peculiar ornamentation of the
entrance struck on my perception in a flash; every detail of the
decoration and the tiling of the floor stood clear on my mental vision as
I sprang up the stairs. I rang violently on the second floor. Why should I
stop exactly on the second floor? And why just seize hold of this bell
which was some little way from the stairs?
A young lady in a grey gown with black trimming came out and opened the
door. She looked for a moment in astonishment at me, then shook her head
and said:
"No, we have not got anything today," and she made a feint to close the
door.
What induced me to thrust myself in this creature's way? She took me
without further ado for a beggar.
I got cool and collected at once. I raised my hat, made a respectful bow,
and, as if I had not caught her words, said, with the utmost politeness:
"I hope you will excuse me, madam, for ringing so hard, the bell was new
to me. Is it not here that an invalid gentleman lives who has advertised
for a man to wheel him about in a chair?"
She stood awhile and digested this mendacious invention and seemed to be
irresolute in her summing up of my person.
"No!" she said at length; "no, there is no invalid gentleman living here.
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