She made him lie down on the sofa, covered him with a rug, and returned to the showrooms, where the girls were waiting to be dismissed.
Mademoiselle Laure had not returned, and this made Audrey uneasy.
However, she attended to the duties of the evening, saw that the hats and dresses had been properly covered up and put away, and bidding the assistants good-night, waited till they had all gone down the stairs before returning to Gerard.
Then she made the usual final tour of the suite of rooms, and was about to turn down the electric light, when she heard the slight sound of heavy tread on the soft carpet outside, and looking round, saw that two men, respectably but not exactly well dressed, were standing in the room.
A foreboding of evil came upon her at once. One of the men, she thought, was a policeman in plain clothes. She looked at his boots, and was confirmed in this uncomfortable impression.
“Who are you? And what do you want?” she asked sharply.
And as she spoke she made a step in the direction of the door, feeling that Gerard ought to be present.
But the man with the policeman’s boots stepped quietly in her way and said respectfully enough:—
“I beg pardon, ma’am. Madame Rocada, I believe?”
Audrey hesitated. What ought she to say?