CHAPTER XVI
"'TWIXT YOU AND ME A NOISOME SHADOW CAST"
"Adrea!"
It was a cry which seemed to ring through the room, an interruption so sudden and strange that they started apart like guilty children, gazing towards the lifted curtain which divided the apartment with wondering, half-fearful faces. The woman whom Adrea had called her step-mother stood there, pale and bloodless, with her great black eyes flashing, and behind her a tall, dark figure was gazing sternly at them.
Adrea was the first to recover her composure. She was a little further away, and she could see only her step-mother.
"What do you want?" she exclaimed quickly. "I desire to be alone! Why do you stand there?"
There was no answer. Then the momentary silence was broken by a quick, startled cry from Paul, which seemed to cleave the semi-darkness of the room.
"My God!"
The dark figure had moved forward, and was standing, pale and austere, before them. It was Father Adrian.