" With a sense of relief he hid
the message and entered the Duke's antechamber.
Here he was received by Heiligenstern's Oriental servant, who, with a
mute salutation, led him into a large room where the Duke's pages
usually waited. The walls of this apartment had been concealed under
hangings of black silk worked with cabalistic devices. Oil-lamps set on
tripods of antique design shed a faint light over the company seated at
one end of the room, among whom Odo recognised the chief dignitaries of
the court. The ladies looked pale but curious, the men for the most part
indifferent or disapproving. Intense quietness prevailed, broken only by
the soft opening and closing of the door through which the guests were
admitted. Presently the Duke and Duchess emerged from his Highness's
closet. They were followed by Prince Ferrante, supported by his governor
and his dwarf, and robed in a silken dressing-gown which hung in
voluminous folds about his little shrunken body. Their Highnesses seated
themselves in two armchairs in front of the court, and the little prince
reclined beside his mother.
No sooner had they taken their places than Heiligenstern stepped forth,
wearing a doctor's gown and a quaintly-shaped bonnet or mitre. In his
long robes and strange headdress he looked extraordinarily tall and
pale, and his features had the glassy-eyed fixity of an ancient mask. He
was followed by his two attendants, the Oriental carrying a frame-work
of polished metal, not unlike a low narrow bed, which he set down in the
middle of the room; while the Georgian lad, who had exchanged his
fustanella and embroidered jacket for a flowing white robe, bore in his
hands a crystal globe set in a gold stand.
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