She meant to doze, having firmly declined the suggestion of Mrs. Tams
that she should go to bed at seven o'clock, and she was just dropping
the paper when a tap on the window startled her. She looked in alarm
at the window, where the position of one of the blinds proved the
correctness of Mrs. Maldon's secret theory that if Mrs. Maldon did
not keep a personal watch on the blinds they would never be drawn
properly. Eight inches of black pane showed, and behind that dark
transparency something vague and pale. She knew it must be the hand of
Louis Fores that had tapped, and she could feel her heart beating.
She flew on tiptoe to the front door, and cautiously opened it. At
the same moment Louis sprang from the narrow space between the street
railings and the bow window on to the steps. He raised his hat with
the utmost grace.
"I saw your head over the arm of the Chesterfield," he said in a
cheerful, natural low voice. "So I tapped on the glass. I thought if
I knocked at the door I might waken the old lady. How are things
to-night?"
In those few words he perfectly explained his manner of announcing
himself, endowing it with the highest propriety. Rachel's misgivings
were soothed in an instant.
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