"Have you any secrets behind that curtain, Sir Gilbert?" she asked.
"A cat most likely," he answered nervously. "Let me pick him up for you."
Adele stooped down, but he eluded her. With a low growl he sprang through
the opening, and fastened his teeth in my trousers. Adele turned to my
cousin and her face was as pale as death.
"There was only one person in the world," she said, "to whom Nagaski used
to behave like that. Sir Gilbert! what is there behind that curtain? I
insist upon knowing. If there have been listeners to our conversation, it
will cost me my life."
I stepped out. It seemed to me that concealment was no longer possible.
She staged at me in bewilderment. I had forgotten my beard, my spectacles
and shabby clothes. She did not recognize me!
"Has this person been here all the time? Is this a trap?" she demanded,
turning to my cousin with flashing eyes.
I stepped forward.
"Adele," I said, "don't you know me?"
She started violently. She looked steadily at me for a moment in dumb
amazement. Her cheeks were ashen, her eyes dilated.
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