He looked at me in an apologetic kind of way, as if he wished himself anywhere but there. I was horrified, and trembled like a leaf; while Katy and Jack, although they could not understand what was said, knew something was wrong, and looked anxiously at me. I explained, in a few words, whereat Jack eyed the gendarme scowlingly, clinching his fist once, as if ready to fight, if necessary. Sophie alone was calm, although her face was pale and there was a bluish look around her lips. She had turned up the ace of spades, and was adjusting her cards, as if nothing unusual were happening.
“Let him search! You can’t prevent it,” she said to her mother. “But, as I have a good hand and want to play it, there’s no reason why we should not go on with our game, unless you wish to look under the table first!”
This to the gendarme, as, with her large, white hand she swept aside the folds of her dress, disclosing nothing worse than four pairs of feet huddled together in a small space, for the table was not a large one. Sophie’s eyes blazed with scorn as they rested on the gendarme, who must have been impressed with her beauty. She had never looked handsomer than she did that night, in her dress of crimson satin and velvet, which fitted her perfectly. It was trimmed with knots of old lace here and there. A small diamond pin was the only ornament she wore. Her ears had never been pierced, and there were no rings on her fingers, at which I wondered a little, for her hands, though large, were white and well-shaped, and showed no signs of work.
Regarding her fixedly for a moment, while a peculiar smile flitted across his face, the gendarme said:
“Allow me, mademoiselle, to say that Paris agrees with you. I have never seen you looking better. You must have gained a good many pounds in that gay city. The last time I had the pleasure of meeting you, you were not as stout as you are now.”
It was a strange speech, and I rather resented it. Sophie did not deign to reply, but sat with her skirts drawn back, that he might see under the table.
“I do not think he is there,” he continued; “and, I assure you, I have no special desire to arrest him, but I must do my duty. Your servant, perhaps, will take me through the rooms?”
“Certainly,” Sophie replied, mockingly. “I’d do it myself, but, you see, I am busy. Drusa,” and she turned to the old woman, who all the time had been standing by the door, with her jaw dropped and her eyes distended. “Drusa, show this man wherever there is a chance for anyone to be hiding; but, first, tell me, were you awake at midnight last night?”
“Yes, mademoiselle, wide awake. I mostly am.”
“Did you hear anyone enter the house?”