"_Mademoiselle_ will come inside, please," said the woman, with a
foreign accent. "It is cold in the night air, _N'est-ce-pas_?"

She turned to lead the way inside. While Louise hesitated to follow the
limousine started with a roar from its cylinders and disappeared down
the driveway, the two men going with it. The absence of the lamps
rendered the darkness around the solitary house rather uncanny. An
intense stillness prevailed except for the diminishing rattle of the
receding motor car. In the hall was a light and a woman.

Louise went in.




CHAPTER XVI


MADAME CERISE, CUSTODIAN

The woman closed the hall door and locked it. Then she led the way to a
long, dim drawing-room in which a grate fire was smouldering. A stand
lamp of antique pattern but dimly illuminated the place, which seemed
well furnished in an old fashioned way.

"Will not you remove your wraps, Mees--Mees--I do not know ma'm'selle's
name."

"What is your own name?" asked Louise, coming closer to gaze earnestly
into the other's face.