Or some more hieroglyphics might
come, carrying another message, postponing his start, saying that the
propitious moment had not yet arrived after all. There were several
devices open to ingenuity; many ways in which Beaumaroy might protract a
situation not so bad for him even as it stood, and quite rich in
possibilities. Her acid smile was turned against herself when she
remembered that she had been fool enough to talk to Beaumaroy about
sensitive honor!
Well, never mind Mr. Beaumaroy! The case as to Mr. Saffron stood pretty
plain. It was queer and pitiful, but by no means unprecedented. She might
be not much of an alienist, as Dr. Irechester had been kind enough to
suggest to Mr. Naylor, but she had seen such cases herself--even
stranger ones, where even higher Powers suffered impersonation, with
effects still more tragically absurd to onlookers. And she remembered
reading somewhere--was it in Maudslay--that in the days of Napoleon, when
princes and kings were as ninepins to be set up and knocked down at the
tyrant's pleasure, the asylums of France were full of such great folk?
Potentates there galore! If she had Mr.
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