her that Miss Halcombe was in the house, and that she should be
immediately informed of her sister's arrival. He and the foreigner
then went away and left her by herself in the room. It was poorly
furnished as a sitting-room, and it looked out on the backs of houses.

The place was remarkably quiet--no footsteps went up or down the
stairs--she only heard in the room beneath her a dull, rumbling sound
of men's voices talking. Before she had been long left alone the Count
returned, to explain that Miss Halcombe was then taking rest, and could
not be disturbed for a little while. He was accompanied into the room
by a gentleman (an Englishman), whom he begged to present as a friend
of his.

After this singular introduction--in the course of which no names, to
the best of Lady Glyde's recollection, had been mentioned--she was left
alone with the stranger. He was perfectly civil, but he startled and
confused her by some odd questions about herself, and by looking at
her, while he asked them, in a strange manner. After remaining a short
time he went out, and a minute or two afterwards a second
stranger--also an Englishman--came in. This person introduced himself
as another friend of Count Fosco's, and he, in his turn, looked at her
very oddly, and asked some curious questions--never, as well as she
could remember, addressing her by name, and going out again, after a
little while, like the first man. By this time she was so frightened
about herself, and so uneasy about her sister, that she had thoughts of
venturing downstairs again, and claiming the protection and assistance
of the only woman she had seen in the house--the servant who answered
the door.

Just as she had risen from her chair, the Count came back into the room.

The moment he appeared she asked anxiously how long the meeting between
her sister and herself was to be still delayed. At first he returned
an evasive answer, but on being pressed, he acknowledged, with great
apparent reluctance, that Miss Halcombe was by no means so well as he
had hitherto represented her to be. His tone and manner, in making this
reply, so alarmed Lady Glyde, or rather so painfully increased the
uneasiness which she had felt in the company of the two strangers, that
a sudden faintness overcame her, and she was obliged to ask for a glass
of water. The Count called from the door for water, and for a bottle of
smelling-salts. Both were brought in by the foreign-looking man wi