“Louly!”, rief ein in Blau gekleideter Jüngling und stürmte die Stufen herab. Nun erkannte Richard den Bruder Atalantas. “Wie geht’s meiner Louly-Lou?” Der Bursche schwang das Mädchen hoch in die Luft und wirbelte es herum. “Oh, verdammt, wie schwer du bist! Du musst mindestens so viel wiegen wie ein Kriegsschiff, mit hundert Kanonen bestückt und Proviant für zehn Jahre beladen!” Stöhnend gab er vor, unter Loulys Gewicht zu taumeln. “Jetzt weiss ich, du musst der Elefant sein, der heute Abend hier auftreten soll.”
Ächzend und stöhnend sank er auf die Knie. Dann liess er Louly mit einem übertriebenen Seufzer der Erleichterung los, stand schwankend auf und wandte sich zu Atalanta.
“Wie stolz müssen Sie auf Ihren kleinen Elefanten sein, Ms. James…”, spottete er.
“Ja, in der Tat”, bestätigte sie, bückte sich und wischte den Staub von seiner Hose. “Es ist mein grosser Elefant, der mir solche Schwierigkeiten bereitet.”
“Louly!” shouted a youth dressed in blue who was storming down the steps. Now Richard recognized Atalanta’s brother. “How goes it, my Louly-Lou?” The fellow swung the girl high in the air and whirled her around. “Oh, damn, you’re so heavy! You must weigh at least as much as a hundred-cannon warship loaded with ten years’ provisions!” Groaning, he pretended to reel under Louly’s weight. “Now I know, you must be the elephant that’s going to appear here tonight.”
Moaning and groaning, he sank to his knees. Then he let go Louly with an excessive sigh of relief, bounced up and turned to Atalanta.
“How proud you must be of your little elephant, Miss James,” he teased.
“Yes, indeed,” she confirmed, bending down and wiping the dust off his trousers. “It is my big elephant which causes such difficulties for me.”
“Louly!” called the blue-coated lad who bounded down the wide flight of steps toward them. Stoke recognized Atalanta’s brother Tom as he leapt down the last few steps and embraced Louly in a great bear-hug. “How’s my Louly-Lou? How is my plum duff?” The lad lifted Louly off her feet and whirled her around. “Oh crikey, you’re heavy! You must be big as a hundred-gun man o’ war with all its provisions on board.” Tom pretended to stagger under Louly’s weight. “I know! You must be the elephant I’ve come to see.”
After making a great show of being brought to his knees, Tom released Louly with an exaggerated sigh of relief. He bounced back to his feet, and turned to look at Atalanta. “You must be so proud of your little elephant, Miss James.”
Atalanta leaned over to brush the dirt off of the knees of Tom’s trousers. “Yes indeed. It’s my big elephant who causes all the trouble.”