“Yes.”
Manon remained silent for a moment. She was thinking.
“Mon ami,” she exclaimed, “I shall not go to Ste. Claire to-morrow. I shall stay here several days. There is no time to be lost, and I can help you. We must take what we need before Bibi thieves everything.”
XIV
They entered the café and sat down on the two wooden chairs that Manon had salved from one of the houses. The coming of Bibi had introduced a sudden sinister complexity into the adventure, an element of discord, a threat of competition. Brent refilled his pipe. He looked worried.
“We had better begin on those huts,” he said; “I’ll get the tools together and go down at once.”
Manon restrained him.
“No, not yet. We must wait.”
“Till that fellow has gone?”
She nodded.