“‘If you will please be seated,’ she said, ’I will send Captain Bertin in to you.’”

“She was thinner, I thought, and perhaps a trifle less assured; but that was to be understood.  For the rest, she had the deliberate tones of the salon, the little smile of a convention that is not irksome.  Her voice, her posture, had that grace one knows and defers to at sight.  It was all very wonderful to come upon in that house.  As she left the room, her profile shone against the wall like a cameo, so splendid in its pallor and the fineness of its outline.”

“She must have gone from the passage by another entrance to the room beyond the double doors, for I heard her voice there—­and his.  They spoke together for some minutes, she at length, but he shortly; and then the doors slid apart a foot or so, and he came through sideways.  He gave me a desperate look, and pulled at the doors to close them behind him.  They stuck and resisted him, and he ceased his efforts at once.”

“‘You wanted to speak to me?’ he asked.  He seemed to be frowning as a child will frown to keep from bursting into tears.  ’But not officially, I believe?  It is not official, is it?’”

“‘No,’ I answered.  ‘It is a message—­quite private.’”

“He ceased to frown at that, staring at me heavily, and chewing his moustache.”

“‘Sit down,’ he said suddenly, and came nearer, glancing over his shoulder at the aperture of the doors.  Something in that movement gave me the suggestion that he was accustomed to guard against eavesdroppers; all those poor forlorn gamesters and wastrels are full of secrets and privacies.  One sees them for ever in corners with furtive eyes for listeners, guiding their business like conspirators.”

“I gave him my message at once.  There was a need upon me for plain speech with the man, like that need for cold steel which came upon poor Vaucher.”

“‘There is time for you to make your packages and be gone,’ I said.  ’Time for that and no more, and I recommend you to let the packages be few.  If you go, you will not be sought for.  That is what I have to say to you.’”

“He glanced over his shoulder again and came a step nearer.  ’You mean——­’he said, and hesitated.”

“‘The money?  Yes,’ I answered.  ’That is what I mean.  You will go?”

“He stared at me a moment in silence.  I felt as if I had struck him and spat in his face.  But he had no such thought.”

“‘How long have I?’ he asked suddenly.”

“‘You have to-night,’ I answered.”

“It seemed as if he were going to ask further questions, but at that moment Madame Bertin appeared in the doorway behind him.  I knew she had heard our talk.

“‘Your business is finished?’ she asked carelessly, coming forward into the room.”

“‘It is quite finished,’ I replied.”

“She nodded, smiling.  ‘Captain Bertin has to catch a train,’ she said, ’and if I did not watch the time for him, he would surely lose it.  He has no idea of punctuality.’”