"Hush!" he cried. "Hush! Don't say names aloud—his or the other's."
"Well," I said crossly, "you have kept me waiting already more time than I care to lose. How much longer before you will tell me what I came to know?"
He looked at me sharply for another brief instant before his eyes slunk away from mine.
"You should have a password."
"They gave me none. They told me to say I came from the shuttered house in the Rue Coupejarrets, and that would be enough."
"How came you into this business?"
"By a back window."
He gave me another suspicious glance, but making nothing by it, he rejoined:
"Eh bien, I trust you. I will tell you."
He clutched my arm and drew me to the back of the arch, where the afternoon shadows were already gathered.