But the other, pressing the cat to her breast, did not budge.
"I know who is with him," she said, without even looking back.
More unaccountably than ever Miss Haldin felt a strong impulse to leave
the house.
"Madame de S-- may be engaged for some time yet, and what I have got to
say to Peter Ivanovitch is just a simple question which I might put to
him when I meet him in the grounds on my way down. I really think I
must go. I have been some time here, and I am anxious to get back to my
mother. Will you let me pass, please?"
The _dame de compagnie_ turned her head at last.
"I never supposed that you really wanted to see Madame de S--," she
said, with unexpected insight. "Not for a moment." There was something
confidential and mysterious in her tone. She passed through the door,
with Miss Haldin following her, on to the terrace, and they descended
side by side the moss-grown stone steps. There was no one to be seen on
the part of the drive visible from the front of the house.
"They are hidden by the trees over there," explained Miss Haldin's new
acquaintance, "but you shall see them directly. I don't know who that
young man is to whom Peter Ivanovitch has taken such a fancy. He must
be one of us, or he would not be admitted here when the others come.
You know what I mean by the others.
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