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[_There is a brief silence._ QUEX, _surprised in the act of drinking, lowers his gla.s.s slowly._
QUEX.
[_In a queer voice._] Sophy?
d.u.c.h.eSS.
Miss Fullgarney, the manicurist. She was so good as to offer to take Watson's place for to-night.
QUEX.
[_Looking steadily before him._] Oh?
[_There is another pause. The_ d.u.c.h.eSS _puts down her gla.s.s and, with her foot, pushes the footstool towards_ QUEX.
d.u.c.h.eSS.
[_Sliding from her chair on to the footstool._] Oh, Harry, the bitterness of this final meeting! the dull agony of it!
[_He gets rid of his tumbler and touches her arm._
QUEX.
[_Quietly._] d.u.c.h.ess--
d.u.c.h.eSS.
[_Surprised._] Eh?
QUEX.
I am sorry to alarm you, but this girl--Miss Eden's foster-sister--
d.u.c.h.eSS.
What about her?
QUEX.
She's a cat.
d.u.c.h.eSS.
Cat!
QUEX.
[_Gathering his ideas as he proceeds._] A common hussy, not above playing tricks--spying--
d.u.c.h.eSS.
Spying!
QUEX.
I caught her behind the hedge this evening, in the Italian garden, after you and I had been talking together.
d.u.c.h.eSS.
Behind the hedge!
QUEX.
She had previously done her best to make an a.s.s of me, while you were dressing for dinner--! [_Looking towards the pa.s.sage-door._] Where do you say her room is?
d.u.c.h.eSS.
At the end of that pa.s.sage. [_They rise together, with very little movement._] Oh, but she is in bed, and asleep!
QUEX.
_Is_ she?
d.u.c.h.eSS.
Harry!
QUEX.
Wait--! [_He goes to the door, and examines the key-hole. Then he turns to the_ d.u.c.h.eSS _and beckons to her. She joins him. He says, in a whisper, pointing to the key-hole._] Do you notice--?
d.u.c.h.eSS.
What?
QUEX.
The key is in the lock horizontally.
d.u.c.h.eSS.
She may have been peeping at us? [_He nods. She is sick at the thought._] How inexcusably careless of me!
QUEX.
[_At her elbow._] Listen. I'll keep out of sight. Open the door boldly and walk along the pa.s.sage. See if there is any sign of movement--
d.u.c.h.eSS.
