CHAPTER V

THE REGISTER

John and Julie in the smoking-room were not lonely.  They talked of many of the events he had suggested, and of more.  Two of the windows looked out upon the town instead of the river, but they could see little there save the towering spire of the cathedral and the blank and ruined walls.  The snow was already very deep, but the fall was not diminishing.  The gray gloom of coming twilight, however, was beginning to show through it and once more John returned silent thanks that he had come into Chastel and found Julie.  He was serving vicariously for Philip who undoubtedly had been held back by the snow.

“It will be night soon,” he said.  “It’s likely that the snow will cease in the morning, and then I’m quite sure that Philip will come for you.  It must have been his intention for you to help at the hospital camp below.”

“I think so, too.”

“Then why not go there in the morning?”

“And he would miss me.  He would be searching all Chastel for me, and perhaps would then go away, believing that I had not come.”

He was about to say that Philip, missing her in the town would be sure to look for her in the hospital camp, but he forebore.  It was very pleasant for them there in the hotel, and why hurry?

“At any rate, it would be unwise to leave tonight,” he said.  “I think Suzanne herself will agree with me in that statement.  I’ll ask her, as she’ll be in here very soon now.”

“Why so soon?”

“Because I’ve noticed that Suzanne, besides being your maid is also your chaperon.”

“She’s been that as far back as I can remember, and I believe a most excellent one.  Suzanne, I know, loves me.”

“I’m sure of it.  I don’t blame her.”

“Look how the snow is leaping up against the window, Mr. John!  Ah, Suzanne is ahead of your prediction!  She’s coming now.”

Suzanne stood in the doorway.  John surmised from her look that her distrust, at least in a mild form, had sent her there.

“Now that your maid can be with you,” he said, “I think I’ll take another look at the front of the hotel.  Possibly, a new guest has arrived and registered since we last saw the bureau.  Will you excuse me for a few minutes, Miss Julie?”

John was merely impelled by a sense of duty to take a look about the hotel, not that he expected to find anything, but because a good soldier should never neglect his scouting operations.  He went first into the little lobby at the entrance, where the offices were.  Antoine had lighted a candle and left it on the desk of the bureau.  Otherwise he could have seen little in the room as the twilight was advancing fast, and the white gloom, made by the falling snow, was shading into gray.

He opened the front door.  There was nothing in the street.  The tower of the cathedral was almost hidden by the storm and the twilight and the gaunt ruins of the houses, covered now with snow, looked inexpressibly dreary and lonely.  The dismal spectacle without heightened the bright gladness within, where he and Julie had sat face to face, only a narrow table between, and Antoine and Suzanne had served.