done my cats the honour of attending a rehearsal.
He has seen Hephaestus, and his tears have dropped in sympathy over the
irreparable loss of my beautiful Santa Bianca."

"I hope the talented survivors," said I, "are enjoying their usual
health."

"My daily bulletin from my pupil and assistant, Quast, contains
excellent reports. _Prosit_, Signore."

It was only when I found myself at the table with the dwarf and his
broken-nosed friend that I collected my wits sufficiently to realise
the probable reason of his presence in Marseilles. The grotesque little
creature had actually kept his ridiculous word. He, too, had come south
in search of the lost Captain Vauvenarde. We were companions in the Fool
Adventure. There was something mediaeval in the combination; something
legendary. Put back the clock a few centuries and there we were, the
Knight and the Dwarf, riding together on our quest, while the Lady for
whose sake we were making idiots of ourselves was twiddling her fair
thumbs in her tower far beyond the seas.

Professor Anastasius Papadopoulos broke upon this pleasing fancy by
remarking again that Monsieur Saupiquet was a friend of Madame Brandt.

"He was with her at the time of her great bereavement."

"Bereavement?" I asked forgetfully.

"Her horse Sultan."

He whispered the words with solemn reverence. I must confess to being
tired of the horse Sultan and disinclined to treat his loss seriously.

"Monsieur Saupiquet," said I, "doubtless offered her every consolation."

"He used to travel with her and look after Sultan's well-being. He was
her----"

"Her Master of the Horse," I suggested.

"Precisely. You have the power of using the right word, Monsieur de Gex.
It is a great gift. My good friend Saupiquet is attached to a circus at
present stationed in Toulon. He came over, at my request, to see me--on
affairs of the deepest importance"--he waved the bundle of papers--"the
very deepest importance. _Nicht wahr_, Saupiquet?"

"_Bien sur_," murmured Saupiquet, who evidently did not count loquacity
among his vices.

I wondered whether these important affairs concerned the whereabouts of
Captain Vauvenarde; but the dwarf's air of mystery forbade my asking for
his confidence. Besides, what should a groom in a circus know of retired
Captains of Chasseurs? I said:

"You're a very busy man, Monsieur le Professeur."

He tapped his domelike forehead. "I am never idle. I carry on here
gigantic combinations.