She quickly slid back a narrow panel in the door, which permitted him to look into the room.
"Look in, gentlemen and ladies," said La Roulante, in the sing-song tone of a showman at the circus, "look in, it won't cost you anything!" And then the creature laughed.
Talizac did not heed her, but leaning toward the open panel looked at Francine, who lay with her arms folded on her breast like a child. Her hair was loosened, and nothing could have been lovelier than this face with its delicate features, reminding one of Raphael's pictures. Talizac looked, and forgot that this child was the victim of a miserable conspiracy. He was so impressed by her beauty and her innocence that he was ready to kneel before her. But La Roulante touched his arm with a cynical laugh.
"Open the door, I say!"
La Roulante closed the panel with a snap, and slowly drew a key from her pocket and stood with it in her fingers, and then said quietly and firmly:
"If I unlock that door, it will cost you twenty thousand francs!"
Talizac started back. "What do you mean?" he exclaimed.
"Just what I say, twenty thousand francs!"
"But this is abominable. Have I not paid the sum agreed upon?"
"A trifle, yes; but that won't do!"