THE LADY FROM MAURITIUS
… troublesome, I'll jolly soon stop his mouth … And another thing, Justine, … do the respectable better than you did … I saw you … can't stop making eyes at the men … No! rot … I tell you it must be in here.…"
The grumble died away; furniture grated lightly along the floor just over Scarlett's head; then cautious footsteps departed.
The voices had sounded so clear that Owen looked up involuntarily; and now for the first time he saw that the discoloured whiteness over head was no plaster, but a ceiling-cloth stretched taut over the beams.
"Hello! "he muttered, "if only … It's a bare chance." Whipping down from the table, he seized the tallest chair in the room—a solid piece of Chinese carving, cheaply inlaid—and lifted it to the table. Then climbing upon this, and gripping a loose end of punkah-rope
[ 155 ]
