"But it was dressed last night, and that made it
exceptionally dangerous in some way. Something seemed to tell me so.
Something did tell me so."
"What told you?" inquired Madame, with more excitement and a certain
respect which had been quite absent from her manner before.
"Something that came in the night. I don't know what it was. Light
flashed from it."
"It sounds like a sort of comet, my darling," said Mr. Sagittarius,
considerably perturbed. "We didn't observe that the Crab was specially
dressed, did we?"
"It had nothing on at all when we saw it," said Madame with growing
agitation. "But whatever was this comet that flashed light? That's what
I want to get at."
"It was a dark thing that told me the Crab was dressed, that my
grandmother had been with it and that its influence was inimical to
her."
"A dark thing! That's not a comet!" said Mr. Sagittarius.
"It vanished with a flash of light into the square."
"At what time did you observe it, sir?" asked Mr. Sagittarius, while
Madame leaned forward, gazing with goggling eyes at the Prophet.
"At exactly half-past one."
"Did it stay long?"
"A few minutes only--but it made an impression upon me that I can never
forget.
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