“I am always armed. What are you afraid of?”
“Wait!”
In the silence a curious whistling sound was heard. Sophia’s features relaxed.
“It is Hans!”
A rapid step was heard on the sand of the alley. The door of the salon opened, and Milona made her appearance, followed by the colossus. He was still clothed in his mean-looking fisher’s costume. Flinging his hat on the ground, he removed his blouse and his huge shoes, without the slightest thought of Sophia’s presence, and exclaimed—
Placing on the table a glass recipient and a sheet of paper, he said, with a grimace—
“Here it is!”
“Then you have succeeded at last?”
Sophia and Cesare approached with a kind of respect, and saw through the jar the brownish shavings of the powder which had already cost so much blood!