turned and looked
over his spare shoulder. It was Chalmers.

CHAPTER XXXIII

At sight of Roger the Frenchwoman uttered a cry and redoubled her
efforts to get away.

"Roger, make him let go, the old swine, the beast, _le sale chameau_!
I dismiss him here, now; he must leave my house. I will have him
arrested for attacking me. I... Take him away, Roger, do you hear, do
you see what he is doing?"

Before Roger could reply or adjust his confused impressions the old
butler panted out:

"Just pick up that bottle from the floor, sir, if you don't mind, and
put it in a safe place. Then I'll let her ladyship go."

Speechless from amazement, yet forcibly impressed by the old man's
words and serious manner, Roger looked and discovered a bottle of Evian
water standing on the tiled floor a few feet away. He picked it up and
set it high on a shelf over the basin, then quickly closed the door and
stood with his back against it.

"Release her ladyship, Chalmers," he ordered sternly, "and let me hear
the reason of this extraordinary behaviour."

Like a steel spring unloosed Therese broke from the butler's grasp and
hurled herself against the door.

"Let me out, let me out! Roger, I shall faint, I shall die!"

He looked at her curiously and stood firm as a rock, Chalmers mopped
his brow with a handkerchief, still breathing with difficulty. Roger
looked from him to Therese, who, half-sobbing now, threw herself again
at the door, appealing to him desperately:

"I can't bear it, Roger; I can't breathe the same air with this
horrible creature! Didn't you see how he had hold of me, how he----"

A glint came into Roger's eye; he held her off with one arm.

"Yes, Therese, I saw. Now I intend to know why he did it. Tell me the
truth, Chalmers."

The old man, who was recovering his poise, coughed apologetically.

"I know how it must have looked to you, sir, but believe me I had a
good reason. Perhaps you can persuade her ladyship to tell you what
she was about to do with that bottle of mineral water when I came in
and caught her at it."

The cry that burst from Therese's lips was like an angry snarl.

"Mineral water! What is the creature talking about I should like to
know?"

Unmoved, the butler continued in reply to Roger's unspoken question.

"If her ladyship won't tell you sir, then I will. When I came in here
to get the brandy, she had that bottle in her hand. She was just going
to pour it down th