he infuriated latter from
committing a bodily assault on the frightened porter, who apparently had
just entered by the street door and was cowering in a corner in an
attitude of supplication, loudly appealing for mercy, while the landlord
in broken English was all the time pleading with the giant to remain
tranquil.

Into the midst of the struggle I interposed myself, and when a measure
of calm had been re-established I learned the lamentable and stunning
truth. Stupefied, dazed and, for the nonce, speechless, I stared from
one to the other, unwilling to credit my own sense of hearing.

At seven of the clock a special train had steamed away for Calais,
bearing the refugees. The proprietor and his minion had but just
returned from the station, whence the train had departed a short half
hour before. Aboard it were the Americans who had been stranded in
Abbevilliers on the evening previous. My eight young lady seniors were
aboard it, doubtlessly assuming, in the haste and confusion of the
start, that I had found lodgment in some other compartment than the one
occupied by them.

All the recent guests of this hotel were aboard it--with two exceptions.
One was Zeno the Great; the other the author of this distressing
narrative.

With one voice we demanded to know why we, too, had not been advised in
advance. The proprietor excitedly declared that he had sent the porter
to make the rounds of the house during the night and that the porter
returning to him, reported that, either by word of mouth or by signs, he
had duly informed all of the plans afoot for the ensuing morning.

"He tell me zat ze billiard-table gentlemans do not understand ze
French," proclaimed the landlord; "and zat zen he make wit' 'is mouth
and 'is hands ze representation of ze _chemin de fer_--what you call ze
locomoteef; and zen you say to him: 'Yes, yes--all is well; we
comprehend fully.'"

With a low, poignant moan I pressed my hands, palms inward, to my
throbbing temples and staggered for support against the nearermost wall.
I saw it all now. When the porter had emitted those hissing sounds from
between his teeth we very naturally interpreted them as an effort on his
part to simulate the sound produced by steaming-hot breakfast coffee.
When, in a circular fashion, he rotated his hand we thought he meant
scrambled eggs. Between wonder at the incredible stupidity of the porter
and horror at the situation of my eight unprotected and defenceless
young