The Count arrived betimes at rue Jadis-Joppelin, n° 14. The house was white, laughing, and preceded by a courtyard whose two large banks contained quite beautiful mushrooms.
In the concierge who opened the door, Monte Fato recognised the old Céléborne. However, as Céléborne had never been one of the great minds of Terre-moyenne, and had taken to obsessing about the boats wherein his wife had been accustomed to make her trysts, he did not recognise the Count.
The house had, besides the rez-de-chaussée, two smiaux or tunnels in the Neo-Gondorian style. The dining-room was of oak, the salon of willow and blue lotus; the bedroom of citronnier and pipe-weed; there was also a smoking-room for Armalvéguil Hornebloueur, who did not smoke, and a piano salon for Bilbette, who was not a musician.
The entire second floor was reserved for Meurtrier, who had converted a large part of it into a seraglio, since he was incapable of amorous adventures save with star-crossed beauties who were locked up by their cruel and vaguely sinister parents.
A Fantôme du Ring inquired of Meurtrier de Morrie, who was in the garden writing a book about the invention of the cigar, whether he and M. and Mme. de Hornbloueur were visible for the Count of Monte Fato. (The irony of this question was regrettably lost on Meurtrier, though not on the Count.)
