"I did not expect to have the pleasure of seeing you again,
Monsieur. I thought you were to have left France the day after the
reception at the Elysee."
Rouletabille and I, outwardly indifferent, listened most intently
for every word the American would say.
The man's purplish red face, his heavy eyelids, the nervous
twitchings, all spoke of his addiction to drink. How came it that
so sorry a specimen of a man should be so intimate with Monsieur
Stangerson?
Some days later, I learned from Frederic Larsan--who, like
ourselves, was surprised and mystified by his appearance and
reception at the chateau--that Mr. Rance had been an inebriate
for only about fifteen years; that is to say, since the professor
and his daughter left Philadelphia. During the time the Stangersons
lived in America they were very intimate with Arthur Rance, who was
one of the most distinguished phrenologists of the new world. Owing
to new experiments, he had made enormous strides beyond the science
of Gall and Lavater. The friendliness with which he was received at
the Glandier may be explained by the fact that he had once rendered
Mademoiselle Stangerson a great service by stopping, at the peril of
his own life, the runaway horses of her carriage.
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