CHAPTER XIX.
Unsummoned Witnesses.
Slowly the afternoon wore away.

My content had given place to urgent impatience, and I longed every moment for the summons to action.

None came; and a quarter to five I went downstairs, hoping to find some means of whiling away the interval of time.

Pushing open the door of the little _salle--manger_, I was presented with a back view of my host M.Bontet, who was leaning out of the window.

Just as I entered, he shouted "Ready at six!" Then he turned swiftly round, having, I suppose, heard my entrance; at the same moment, the sound of a door violently slammed struck on my ear across the yard.