Pagina 329 de 788

Here he began to develop in due order, as he always did, a plan

for the exchange that was to take place. He was already in the

middle of the subject, when an unexpected movement started at the

end of the table; some were pointing at something that they had

noticed, and others were looking in the same direction, until

finally all heads, like ears of grain bent down by a wind behind

them, were turned away from the Chamberlain, to the corner.

From the corner, where hung the portrait of the late Pantler, the

last of the Horeszko family, from a little door concealed between

the pillars, had quietly come forth a form like a phantom. It was

Gerwazy; they recognised him by his stature, by his face, and by

the little silvery Half-Goats on his yellow coat. He walked

straight as a post, silent and grim, without taking off his hat,

without even inclining his head; in his hand he held a glittering

key, like a dagger; he opened a case and began to turn something

in it.