"Regnie, please write this in French on the other side—will you?" said the writer, as he finished.
Orloff took the page, and turning it over, did as requested; but as he finished signing his own name, he let the pencil drop from his fingers, and for a moment found himself incapable of movement or expression. Controlling himself with an effort, he folded the note neatly, and returned it, with the pencil, to La Salle.
"Who is your fair correspondent, M. La Salle?" said he, in French.
La Salle, with flushed face and eyes lighted up with due resentment of the other's curiosity, answered,—
"You seem to have read for yourself."
Orloff's manner changed at once.
"A thousand pardons, monsieur, but I have a good reason for asking the lady's name."
"Pauline H. Randall, as you may see for yourself," was the quiet reply.
"One more question, sir. Do you know her middle name?"
"I did, but cannot exactly recall it, as she never uses it in full, and I have forgotten whether it is Hobel or Hubel; that it is one of the two, I am pretty certain."