"Hark!" whispered someone.
The light went out.
In place of the greyness, blackness fell.
Pat could hear the pounding of his own heart, and another sound almost hidden by the noise in his breast.
He thought that stairs were squeaking under a stealthy foot.
CHAPTER XVII
THE CRYSTAL
"Have you an appointment, Madam?" asked the elderly woman who opened the door of Madame Veno's flat for Juliet.
She was a person of almost oppressively respectable appearance, with grey hair parted in the middle, gold-rimmed pince nez resting on a thin nose, and a neat body clad in black silk. If Madame Veno needed a chaperon, her door opener was ideal!
Juliet had run upstairs so fast that she was breathing hard. Passing the office of the Inner Circle had disgusted her. She felt contaminated, almost ill; but the sight of this woman was like a dash of cool water on a hot forehead.