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Rh and I watched him hungrily; but there was my promise to Sœur Anne Marie!

Ivan closed the door softly and stood for a moment as if in thought. Once he laid his hand on the bolt, and I thought he was going to open the door and call Chu-Chu back; but apparently he thought better of it, for his hand dropped to his side again while he twisted his black, wiry moustache with the other. I guessed that he was hard put to it, that he had a big job going and that Chu-Chu was the only person he dared trust with it. If Chu-Chu failed to come to terms the whole thing was going begging.

Chu-Chu's heavy footsteps died away in the distance, and still Ivan stood there twisting his moustache and thinking. Suddenly he swung on his heel and started for the house, and as he did so I moved my arm, rustling the ivy.

"Who is there?" asked Ivan in a low voice, and I saw his hand slip into the side-pocket of his coat.

"It is I—Clamart," I answered softly.

Ivan stepped to the little door, opened it softly and took a quick look up and down the street, then closed the door again.

"Will you come down?" said he in a low voice.

I reached for the branch of a tree, swung silently clear of the wall and dropped to the ground. Even through the murk I could see the gleam of Ivan's white teeth as he looked at me with his thin-lipped smile.

"Let us go inside," said he. "I would like to talk with you."