Standing a little to one side, the men saw her features clearly, in the light from the room. It was the woman with the disfigured face.
Conrad Lagrange was first to command himself. "I beg your pardon, madam. We live in the house next door. We thought we heard a cry of distress. May we offer our assistance in any way? Is there anything we can do?"
"Thank you, sir, you are very kind,"--returned the woman, in a low voice,--"but it is nothing. There is nothing you can do."
And the voice of Sibyl Andrés, who stood farther back in the room, where the artist from his position could not see her, added, "It was good of you to come, Mr. Lagrange; but it is really nothing. We are so sorry you were disturbed."
"Not at all," returned the men, as the woman of the disfigured face drew back from the door. "Good night."
"Good night," came from within the house, and the door was shut.
Chapter XI
Go Look In Your Mirror, You Fool
As the Taine automobile left Aaron King and his friend, that afternoon, Mrs. Taine spoke to the chauffeur; "You may stop a moment, at the next house, Henry."
If she had fired a gun, James Rutlidge could not have turned with a more startled suddenness.