“Where did they go?” she asked, without a word of introduction. “I beg your pardon. Where did who go?” She tilted her head to take a closer look at his face. “Why, your moustaches.” The Count had not much cause to interact with children, but he had been raised well enough to know that a child should not idly approach a stranger, should not interrupt him in the middle of a meal, and certainly should not ask him questions about his personal appearance. Was the minding of one’s own business no longer a subject taught in schools? “Like swallows,” the Count answered, “they traveled elsewhere for
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