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 that Sir Ian was here, if it were not known already, since the ex-officer was under observation; yet some kudos might be gained, in spite of that fact, if Michel played his cards well. He intended to let not the smallest chance slip, and the eyes which flashed from Sir Ian to Teresina Ricardo and Nora Verney were the merciless eyes of a lynx.

Michel saw Sir Ian start as if with astonishment at the sight of the two women; saw him hesitate in the doorway as if he were minded to beat a retreat; saw Miss Ricardo turn scarlet, and Nora Verney grow as pale as if she were faint, and heard the elder woman exclaim: "Sir Ian!" Still, the detective's conviction that this encounter was a "put-up job" did not waver for an instant. He thought that Sir Ian was a creditable actor, and that perhaps Miss Ricardo had not wished the first meeting to take place like this, on the hotel verandah, in the presence of half a dozen people. (It would be like a woman to have planned out something more romantic, and to be disappointed!) It struck him as probable that Nora Verney was not in the secret. The two most concerned would naturally wish her to believe that they met by accident; but, thought Michel, she would be a little idiot to be deceived, considering what kind of place was St. Pierre de Chartreuse. If it were Aix-les-Bains, for instance, where all the world passed and repassed, it might be different.