except as they entered or left the long hall. He had been watching there an hour when he saw come into the court the colored girl who had been his mother's maid—dressed in expensive clothes which did not fit her and teetering as she walked on her high-heeled shoes. He got up nervously. She might not recognize him. He had no specific reason for fearing her if she did, but he watched her anxiously. She crossed the court, passing him, and hesitated at the foot of the stairs. She turned back then, repassing him, and faced him from the entrance to the court.
"What you doin' in here, honey?"
"Nothin'."
What her recognition might signify as regarded himself, he did not know. There was, he appreciated, no means of exit from the court except the hall. He approached her watchfully, depending upon his quickness to dodge past, but she was too quick for him and seized him by the arm.
"This here," she exulted, "must be my lucky night!"
