Then he recovered himself, sat down in the chair, and resumed his watch on the stairs.
At last, at the end of half an hour, which had seemed to him months long, he heard voices.

The drawing-room door shut, and there were footsteps on the stairs.

The inspector and Sonia came into view.
He waited till they were at the top of the stairs: then he came out of the room, with his most careless air, and said: "Well, Mademoiselle Sonia, I hope you did not find it so very dreadful, after all." She was very pale, and there were undried tears on her cheeks.

"It was horrible," she said faintly.

"Horrible.