A regular succession of light breathings gave audible proof that he was not the only person in the room. Rising to his feet and holding the lamp on high, Wilfrid looked about him, and discovered that the breathings came from a bed a little distance off. Curtains hanging around the bed prevented him from seeing the sleeper. It was clear that through some strange blunder Nadia had shown him to the wrong room.
Then——
“By Jove!” muttered Wilfrid.
His eyes had fallen upon a startling sight—startling, that is, in the sense of being unexpected.
There, orderly disposed upon a chair by the dressing-table was a pile of fair undergarments, while beneath the same chair there peeped forth a pair of satin shoes formed only for the smallest of feet.
RISING TO HIS FEET AND HOLDING THE LAMP ON HIGH, WILFRID LOOKED ABOUT HIM.
“By Neva’s Waters.” [Page 34.]
The person behind the curtains was not a man!