Chapitre 12. Le steuard et le banquier - printable version

The next day, around half past two in the afternoon, a hobbite of seventy years who hoped to pass for fifty, dressed in an ornamental waistcoat of an eel-like green and yellow, arrived outside the Count of Monte Fato's residence at Champs-Valinorées in a magnificent calèche drawn by two oliphants with crowns on their heads. He sent his valet to inquire whether the Count was chez lui. While waiting, the hobbite contemplated, with an attention so minutious as to be almost impertinent, the exterior of the palace, the garden, and the livery, marked with an enormous red Eye, of those servants that could be perceived coming and going. He speculated that the spoons of such a Durin-Khroizaz must be valuable indeed.

The valet returned shortly thereafter. "I handed my visiting card to the concierge," he said, "only to be informed that the Count was not visible, and that the concierge would give the message to the valet de chambre, for the concierge durst not approach his Excellency when the latter bore the Ring."

"Ah, then this monsieur is an Ernil-i-Pharvenu, who glories in the title Excellency," said Sacqueville-Danglars. "N'importe; since he has a credit with me, he will have to see me when he wants money, whether he will or he nill." With that, he departed for the Chambre des Moutants.

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