The gray-haired lady smiled an answering and explanatory smile.
“Miss Archinard rents me her studio in the afternoon. She only uses it in the morning; she is never here in the afternoon.”
Odd felt a huge astonishment.
“Never here?”
“No; can I give her any message? I shall probably see her tomorrow if I come early enough.”
“Oh no, thanks. Thanks very much.” He realized that to reveal his dismay would stamp Hilda with an unpleasantly mysterious character.
“I shall see her this evening—at her mother’s. I am sorry to have interrupted you.”
“Oh! Don’t mention it!” The gray-haired lady still smiled kindly; Peter touched his hat and descended the stairs. Perhaps she worked in a large atelier in the afternoon; strange that she had never mentioned it.
Madame Prinet, who had followed the visitor to the foot of the staircase and had located his errand, now stood in her door and surveyed his retreat with a fine air of impartiality; people who consulted her need not mount staircases for nothing.
“Monsieur did not find Mademoiselle.”