“But,” objected Ruth, trying to draw him out, “if Jeffrey Whiting should come back before then?”
“He don’ come back, that fellow.”
“How do you know?”
“I know, I–– He don’ come back. I tell you that.”
“Jeffrey Whiting will be here before nine o’clock to-morrow,” she said, turning suddenly upon him.
“Eh? M’m’selle, what you mean? What you know?” he questioned excitedly.
“Never mind. I see Miss Cardinal looking at us,” she smiled as she arose, “and I think you are in for a lecture.”
Through all the long day, while she ate and listened to the fun and talked to Father Ponfret about her convent life, she did not let Rafe Gadbeau out of her sight or mind for an instant. She knew that she had alarmed him. She was certain that he knew what had happened to Jeffrey Whiting. And she was waiting for him to betray himself in some way.
When Arsene LaComb rang the bell for Vespers, she waited by the bell ringer to see that Gadbeau came into the church. He took his place among the men, and then Ruth dropped quietly into a pew near the door. When the people rose to sing the Tantum Ergo, she saw Gadbeau slip unnoticed out of the church. She waited tensely until the singing was finished, then she almost ran to the door.