Standing with the door held half open she nodded to him.
“I want you to stay here,” said she, “till I come back. I have to talk to all those people you saw and I may be a couple of hours. That man will bring you something to eat—you don’t mind my leaving you here?”
“Oh, I don’t mind,” said Raft “but you’ll be wanting something to eat yourself.”
“I’ll get it.”
“You’ll come back, sure?”
“Sure.”
She laughed, nodded to him, and closed the door. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes bright, she was strangely worked up; a touch might have sent her into a storm of anger or a burst of tears.
In the corridor she met Madame de Brie who had been hunting for her.
“Cléo, they are waiting déjeuner for you—but, my dear child, you have not changed, has no one shewn you to your room?”
The old lady had not only brought along Cléo’s maid who, with the rest of the servants, had been on board wages during her mistress’s absence, but a trunk full of clothes.