Christian looked at him speculatively. The faintest suspicion of a smile hovered for a moment in his eyes, and then he turned and looked out of the window.
“I hope, Monsieur,” continued the Jesuit, “that when I have the pleasure of seeing you—a week hence—your health will be quite re-established!”
“Thank you!”
“And in the meantime I shall feel honoured by your asking for anything you may require.”
“Thank you!” answered Christian again. He was still looking over his shoulder, down at the brown river which ran immediately below the window.
“Please excuse my rising to open the door for you,” said the Provincial, with cool audacity, “but I have a few words to write before joining our brethren at their evening repast.”
Christian turned and looked at him vaguely. There was a peculiar gleam in his eyes, and he was breathing heavily. Then he rose and, as he passed the Jesuit, bowed slightly in acknowledgment of his grave salutation. He walked quickly down the length of the room, which was not carpeted, and opened the door, closing it again with some noise immediately. But he never crossed the threshold. To the man sitting at the table it was as if the Englishman had left the room, closing the door after him.
Presently the Provincial glanced at the mirror, from mere habit, and found that it was displaced. He re-arranged it thoughtfully, so that the entire room was included in its field of reflection.
“I wonder,” he said aloud, “when and why he did that!”
Then he returned to his writing. In a few minutes, however, he rose and pushed back his chair. With his hands clasped behind his back he stood and gazed fixedly out of the window. Beneath him the brown water glided past with curling eddy and gleaming ripple, while its soft murmur was the only sound that broke the pathetic silence surrounding this lonely man. His small and perfectly formed face was quite expressionless; the curve of his thin lips meant nothing; all the suppressed vitality of his being lay in those deep, soft eyes over which there seemed to be a veil. Presently he turned, and with lithe, smooth steps passed down the long room and out of the door.