'No need, my dear friend,' he said in his grating voice, blinking at
the young man through his spectacles, 'we can talk here.'
Vandeloup signed to the landlady to leave the room, which she did,
closing the door after her, and then, pulling himself together with
a great effort, he advanced smilingly on the doctor.
'Ah, my dear Monsieur,' he said, in his musical voice, holding out
both hands, 'how pleased I am to see you.'
Dr Gollipeck gurgled pleasantly in his throat at this and laughed,
that is, something apparently went wrong in his inside and a rasping
noise came out of his mouth.
'You clever young man,' he said, affectionately, to Gaston, as he
unwound a long crimson woollen scarf from his throat, and thereby
caused a button to fly off his waistcoat with the exertion. Dr
Gollipeck, however, being used to these little eccentricities of his
toilet, pinned the waistcoat together, and then, sitting down,
spread his red bandanna handkerchief over his knees, and stared
steadily at Vandeloup, who had put on a loose velvet smoking coat,
and, with a cigarette in his mouth, was leaning against the
mantelpiece. It was raining outside, and the pleasant patter of the
raindrops was quite audible in the stillness of the room, while
every now and then a gust of wind would make the windows rattle, and
shake the heavy green curtains. The two men eyed one another keenly,
for they both knew they had an unpleasant quarter of an hour before
them, and were like two clever fencers--both watching their
opportunity to begin the combat.
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