ner to arouse
suspicion.

As he entered the room, from the opposite door Aline approached him.
Her black gimlet eyes surveyed him with a baleful glare as with a
distinct touch of irony she inquired if it were permitted that she
should bring Madame something to eat.

"Naturally; bring Madame whatever she requires," he replied
indifferently.

With a toss of the head she departed, hostility in every inch of her
stiff body.

Finding it a disagreeable matter to remain in the same room with the
phlegmatic figure still seated in the _bergere_ by the fire, Roger
crossed to one of the French windows, and opening the casement stepped
outside on the narrow balcony. There was a misty drizzle of rain which
cooled his burning face, the air was mild enough, but saturated with
moisture. The leaves of the trees glistened with heavy drops. Along
the balcony to the right showed the light from Therese's room in a bar
across the wet stone. Her curtains had not been drawn, and for a few
seconds he could see her silhouette framed in the window.... What was
she thinking? what was going on in that brain, which he now felt he had
never understood? Was it possible she was guilty of the cold-blooded
act Esther had accused her of? His mind could not yet take in the
enormity of it, the thought was too staggering. It scarcely seemed
credible that so ethereal, so delicate an exterior could hide the
consciousness of crime. It was far easier to believe there was some
hideous mistake about it all, that Esther, if not deranged, had been
misled by appearances.... What appearances? What could have given her
this idea? He resolved to question Chalmers at once, to find out what
he knew. Esther had certainly told the old man something which had
profoundly impressed him, that much was evident.

He found Chalmers in the hall, on his way downstairs. Motioning him to
approach, Roger spoke to him in a voice cautiously subdued.

"Let me hear, Chalmers, exactly what Miss Rowe said to you when you let
her in. What did you think of her--how did she strike you?"

"You saw for yourself what she looked like, sir," replied the old man
quietly, yet with an undercurrent of excitement that was not lost on
Roger. "I almost took her for a ghost. She fell into the hall when I
opened the door, hardly able to stand, she was, sir. I put out my hand
to steady her. 'Lord, miss,' I said, 'where have you come from?' I
said. She gave me a sort of wild look,