Page:Rowland--The closing net.djvu/227

Rh will think that I have come in the hope of a word with Leontine, whose house I might be afraid to visit. Then, unless I am very much mistaken, when we leave Chu-Chu will follow us."

"To learn where you live?"

"Yes, and possibly even to make an attack on the road. That is what we must avoid."

"Mon Dieu! But how?"

"We must not let him catch us until we reach the forest of Marly. It begins less than a kilometre from here. We shall have a sufficient start to keep ahead for that distance. Once in the wood I shall jump out and walk into the trees. If Chu-Chu follows me we will settle our difficulties then and there."

Poor Rosalie looked scared to death. I waited for a minute, expecting to hear her say that she wanted nothing to do with the whole business. Instead of that, after a minute of reflection:

"Do you think that he will believe that I know?" she asked.

"If I thought that for a single second," said I, quickly, "I should walk into that place and shoot him off the seat of his taxi before I would permit you to have any hand in it. No; Chu-Chu will believe that I chose you either by chance or because I should naturally expect him to think that the last person I would choose should be the most easily traced taxi in Paris. He would never for a second dream that I had taken you into my confidence. Besides, he would never believe that if you knew what was going on you would dare tackle it."

She dropped her hands at her sides, straightened