"Monsieur!" he cried, "I do not know what makes you shudder; but I
am remembering a few words you used this morning."
Hanaud turned upon his heel. His face was drawn and grey and his
eyes blazed.
"My friend, I also am remembering those words," he said. Thus the
two men stood confronting one another, eye to eye, with awe and
fear in both their faces.
Ricardo was wondering to what words they both referred, when the
sound of wheels broke in upon the silence. The effect upon Hanaud
was magical. He thrust his hands in his pockets.
"Helene Vauquier's cab," he said lightly. He drew out his
cigarette-case and lighted a cigarette.
"Let us see that poor woman safely off. It is a closed cab I
hope."
It was a closed landau. It drove past the open door of the salon
to the front door of the house. In Hanaud's wake they all went out
into the hall. The nurse came down alone carrying Helene
Vauquier's bag. She placed it in the cab and waited in the
doorway.
"Perhaps Helene Vauquier has fainted," she said anxiously: "she
does not come." And she moved towards the stairs.
Hanaud took a singularly swift step forward and stopped her.
"Why should you think that?" he asked, with a queer smile upon his
face, and as he spoke a door closed gently upstairs. "See," he
continued, "you are wrong: she is coming."
Ricardo was puzzled. It had seemed to him that the door which had
closed so gently was nearer than Helene Vauquier's door. It seemed
to him that the door was upon the first, not the second landing.
But Hanaud had noticed nothing strange; so it could not be. He
greeted Helene Vauquier with a smile as she came down the stairs.
"You are better, mademoiselle," he said politely.
"One can see that. There is more colour in your cheeks. A day or
two, and you will be yourself again."
He held the door open while she got into the cab. The nurse took
her seat beside her; Durette mounted on the box. The cab turned
and went down the drive.
"Goodbye, mademoiselle," cried Hanaud, and he watched until the
high shrubs hid the cab from his eyes. Then he behaved in an
extraordinary way. He turned and sprang like lightning up the
stairs. His agility amazed Ricardo. The others followed upon his
heels. He flung himself at Celia's door and opened it He burst
into the room, stood for a second, then ran to the window. He hid
behind the curtain, looking out. With his hand he waved to his
companions to keep back. The sound of wheels creaking and rasping
rose to their ears. The cab had just come out into the road.
Durette upon the box turned and looked towards the house. Just for
a moment Hanaud leaned from the window, as Besnard, the
Commissaire, had done, and, like Besnard again, he waved his hand.
Then he came back into the room and saw, standing in front of him,
with his mouth open and his eyes starting out of his head,
Perrichet--the intelligent Perrichet.