"
"Does he often stay out so late as this?" asked Graham.
"Oh! yes, often, but not when he says he is coming in early,
or when he is expecting anyone."
"And do you know where he is gone?"
"No, not at all. He said he was going to dine with some
gentlemen, but I don't know where! Oh! do you think anything--
anything can have happened?" cried Madelon, her hidden anxiety
suddenly finding utterance.
"Indeed I do not," answered Graham, in his kindest voice. "His
friends have persuaded him to stay late, I have no doubt; you
must not be so uneasy--these things often happen, you know. Let
us go and look out of the window again; perhaps we shall see
him just coming in."
They went to the end of the corridor accordingly; but no one
was to be seen, except the man who had just left M. Linders'
apartment walking briskly across the moonlight space below,
the great doors of the _porte-cochere_ closing after him with a
clang that resounded through the silent courtyard. Graham had
nothing further to say in the way of consolation; he could
think of no more possible contingencies to suggest, and,
indeed, it was useless to go on reasoning concerning perfectly
unknown conditions.
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