“Very good—I have scored two,” replied the Mayor.
“How long will it take you?”
“Ten minutes,” said Marneffe.
“It is eleven o’clock,” replied Valerie. “Really, Monsieur Crevel, one might fancy you meant to kill my husband. Make haste, at any rate.”
This double-barreled speech made Crevel and Hulot smile, and even Marneffe himself. Valerie sat down to talk to Hector.
“You must leave, my dearest,” said she in Hulot’s ear. “Walk up and down the Rue Vanneau, and come in again when you see Crevel go out.”
“I would rather leave this room and go into your room through the dressing-room door. You could tell Reine to let me in.”
“Reine is upstairs attending to Lisbeth.”
“Well, suppose then I go up to Lisbeth’s rooms?”
Danger hemmed in Valerie on every side; she foresaw a discussion with Crevel, and could not allow Hulot to be in her room, where he could hear all that went on.—And the Brazilian was upstairs with Lisbeth.