The man's arm still rested on the sill of the window; the pale
oval of the face above it was still vague. Abruptly both disappeared, a
door slammed on the far side of the car, and the car itself, after a
moment's wait, gathered way with whining gears and vanished, leaving
nothing human visible in the quiet street.
"What did that mean? Did they pick somebody up?"
"But quite otherwise, mademoiselle."
"Then what has become of him?"
"In the shadow of the door across the way: don't you see the deeper
shadow of his figure in the corner, to this side. And there ... Ah,
dolt!"
The man in the doorway had moved, cautiously thrusting one hand out of
the shadow far enough for the street lights to shine upon the dial of
his wrist-watch. Instantly it was withdrawn; but his betrayal was
accomplished.
"That's enough," said Lanyard, drawing the draperies close again. "No
trouble to make a fool of that one, God has so nobly prepared the
soil." The girl said nothing. They no longer touched, and she was for
the time so still that he might almost have fancied himself alone. But
in that quiet room he could hear her breathing close beside him, not
heavily but with a rapid accent hinting at an agitation which her voice
bore out when she answered his wondering: "Mademoiselle?" "J'y suis,
petit Monsieur Paul.
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