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 "That's all."

"What do you want to do now?" he asked me, almost deferentially. "Stay here?"

"I'd like to see this through, of course," I said. "I'd like to know what happens to those guinea pigs."

"Whatever you like," he answered, and shook hands with me. I could see he was getting uneasy about Strathon and Géroud. He went out and I, having nothing to do but wait, wandered in the hall.

A door opened at the rear and showed an enclosed stairway lit by yellow electricity; a girl had come up the stairs and now was standing in the dimness of the hall.

During the second she showed herself in the lighted doorway, before the door closed again, I had a glimpse of her outline. She was little and trim; like Doris, I thought.

I stepped down by her and she went to the side of the hall and stood. Then I had the instinct to seize her; and there, in the quarter-light, I saw what I was feeling with my hands. She was Doris Janvier.

With the realization, my head seemed to hurt where I'd been hit; but my fingers held firm to her, giving her no chance to get away.