The silence continued. The billiard-room door opened again
noiselessly. The face of the listening woman appeared stealthily
behind it.
At the same moment Mercy roused herself and spoke: "Won't you sit
down?" she said, softly, still not looking round at him, still
busy with her basket of wools.
He turned to get a chair--turned so quickly that he saw the
billiard-room door move, as Grace Roseberry closed it again.
"Is there any one in that room?" he asked, addressing Mercy.
"I don't know," she answered. "I thought I saw the door open and
shut again a little while ago."
He advanced at once to look into the room. As he did so Mercy
dropped one of her balls of wool. He stopped to pick it up for
her--then threw open the door and looked into the billiard-room.
It was empty.
Had some person been listening, and had that person retreated in
time to escape discovery? The open door of the smoking-room
showed that room also to be empty. A third door was open--the
door of the side hall, leading into the grounds. Julian closed
and locked it, and returned to the dining-room.
"I can only suppose," he said to Mercy, "that the billiard-room
door was not properly shut, and that the draught of air from the
hall must have moved it.
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