| 701 | 702 | 703 | 704 | 705 |
| 1 | 236 | 472 | 708 | 944 |
|
Ursus was stunned.
He had not sustained the illusion.
Was it the fault of ventriloquism? Certainly not. He had succeeded in
deceiving Fibi and Vinos, who had eyes, although he had not deceived
Dea, who was blind. It was because Fibi and Vinos saw with their eyes,
while Dea saw with her heart. He could not utter a word. He thought to
himself, Bos in lingûa. The troubled man has an ox on his tongue.
In his complex emotions, humiliation was the first which dawned on him.
Ursus, driven out of his last resource, pondered.
"I lavish my onomatopies in vain." Then, like every dreamer, he reviled
himself. "What a frightful failure! I wore myself out in a pure loss of
imitative harmony. But what is to be done next?"
He looked at Dea. She was silent, and grew paler every moment, as she
stood perfectly motionless. Her sightless eyes remained fixed in depths
of thought.
Fortunately, something happened. Ursus saw Master Nicless in the yard,
with a candle in his hand, beckoning to him.
Master Nicless had not assisted at the end of the phantom comedy played
by Ursus. Some one had happened to knock at the door of the inn. Master
703
Page
Quick Jump
|