Monte Fato saw that this was all the two people, for whom he had prepared this scene, could support; and, not wanting to carry it too far, said: "But the coffee, messieurs; it seems we have forgotten it."
Mme. de Sacqueville-Danglars tried valiantly to smile and pass off her terror as a momentary indisposition brought about by overexposure to ancien régime décor; but her eagerness to leave the fatefully ill-decorated room was evident. Villefaramir hastened after her and whispered in her ear, so that none but the Count, whom nothing escaped, could hear, "I must speak with you at my office tomorrow."
"I will come," replied the baroness. At this point, the other guests began to catch up.
Only the Count had much desire for coffee; he seemed to take an extraordinary delight in savouring it. His guests had rather lost their appetite, and, as soon as they decently could, began to make their adieux, beginning with Mme. de Villefaramir.
M. de Sacqueville-Danglars was more and more enchanted with the Marquis Pseudonimo, or rather with the large imitation silmaril that shone from the major's ring (style faux-elvois); Entelletto had prudently turned his bank notes into an object of value, for fear that some accident befall them. The marquis and his putative son, for their part, had, in view of the banker's credit, been charming and full of affability towards him.
