“Enough of this fooling! What do you mean to do? How do you propose to act?” she said sharply.
Of a sudden serious, he said: “I promise to act very differently from you who are always full of suspicion. I shall be what you have never been, a loyal friend who would blush to injure you.”
“That is to say?”
“That is to say I’m going to put the indispensable questions to Bridget Rousselin, and to put them so that you can hear her answers. Does that suit you?”
“Yes,” she said, but in a tone that showed that she was still irritated.
“In that case, stay here. It won’t take long. There’s no time to lose.”
“No time to lose?”
“No. Listen and you’ll understand. Don’t stir.”
Thereupon, leaving open the two doors of communication so that every word could be heard clearly, he went to the bed on which Bridget was lying.
The young actress smiled at him. In spite of her fear and of the fact that she had not caught a sound of what had been going on, she had at the sight of her deliverer a sense of security and confidence very comforting.