The table at which the three had originally sat had miraculously escaped upsetting, and on it lay the poor Gigerl, stretched at full length on its back, calm and smiling in the midst of the noise and confusion, like the corpse at an Irish wake after the whisky has begun to take effect.
The Count now thought it necessary to justify the unfortunate situation in which he found himself, in the judgment of the spectators.
"Gentlemen," he began, very earnestly and with a dignified gesture, "I feel it necessary to explain the truth of this--" But he was interrupted by the arrival of a policeman, who pushed his way through the crowd..