"I did n't engage you for a picnic, Monsieur Paul."
"It's the pay, not the work, that's in dispute, my friend. Come, you have the money, I suppose? Out with it!"
"Not a sou till I have the papers!"
The Captain nodded his head. "I was right, as usual," he was thinking to himself, as he felt his breast-pocket caressingly.
The wind rose to a gust and howled.
The voices became inaudible. The Captain bent down and whispered.
"If they force the door open," he said, "or if I have to open it and go out, you 'd do well to get behind that straw there till you see what happens. They expect nobody but me, and when they 've seen me they won't search any more."
He saw, with approval and admiration, that she was calm and cool.
"Is there danger?" she asked.
"No," said he. "But one of them wants some papers I have, and has apparently engaged the other to assist him. M. de Roustache feels equal to two jobs, it seems. I wonder if he knows whom he's after, though."