“A thousand regrets. But business calls me to Monte Carlo,” he protested.
“It called you to Monte Carlo only when you knew that I was going there,” she said coldly.
“No, mademoiselle,” Ralph contradicted flatly. “Ever since I perceived you—hours ago—in a confectioner’s shop on the Boulevard Haussmann.”
The retort came swiftly.
“Inaccurate sir. Your admiration for the young person with the green eyes would certainly have drawn you along in her wake, if you had been able to rejoin her after that row in the street. Not being able to do that, you set out on my tracks—at first as far as the Hotel Concordia, like the person you have denounced to me, then to the railway refreshment room.” [[23]]
Ralph was frankly amused,
“I am indeed flattered that so few of my actions and movements have escaped you, mademoiselle,” he said smiling.
“Nothing escapes me, sir,” she said firmly.
“So I see. I expect that for two pins you would tell me my name.”
“Ralph de Limézy, explorer, just returned from Tibet and Central Asia.”