author - "Marie Belloc Lowndes"

g ring.He stepped past her heavily, and though she said nothing, he knew she grudged him his coming joy. Then, full of rage with her and contempt for himself, and giving himself the luxury of a mild, a very mild, oath--Ellen had very early made it clear she would have no swearing in her presence--he lit the hall gas full-flare. "How can we hope to get lodgers if they can't even see the card?" he shouted angrily. And there was truth in what he said, for now that he had lit the gas, the

sh greycalled grisaille, formed the further side of the tiny apartment.Madame Poulain, turning a key, revealed a large roomy space now fitted upas a cupboard. "It's a way through into our bedroom, monsieur," she saidsmiling. "We could not of course allow our daughter to be far fromourselves." And Dampier nodded. He knew the ways of French people and sympathised withthose ways. He stepped up into the cupboard, curious to see if this too had been apowdering closet, and if that