A maid followed in their wake, and from some as yet unexplored region below there rose the sound of clattering dishes.
It was a trying moment for him.

He longed for another glimpse of the girl, but feared to betray his own curiosity to the two women who accompanied her.

Should he be forced to allow her to enter her room unseen?
Might he not better run some small risk of detection?
He had escaped discovery before; wasn't it possible for him to escape it again?
He finally compromised matters by first flinging his door wide open and then retreating to the other end of the room where the shadows appeared heavy enough to hide him.

From this point he cast a look down the hall which was in a direct line from his present standpoint, and was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of the girl with her face turned in his direction.

Her companions, on the contrary, were standing with their backs to him, one beside the door she had just thrown open, the other at his wife's door on which she had just given a significant rap.
Such was the picture.
The girl absorbed all his attention.