can both come out with me, and have the pleasure of regaling me with a glass of wine; for," she added, with a little mock curtsey, "I feel faint after all this exertion."
"Very well," said Pierre, as both men rose and put on their hats.
"We'll drink to another successful disappearance," Valérie said, patting him playfully on the cheek. "The dear boy will prove our salvation from misery, provided he doesn't blunder."
"Not much fear of that," answered the young man she caressed. "It isn't the first time, so trust me to bring it off properly. I know my work too well to take an incautious step," he remarked in a low whisper, as the strange trio descended the creaking stairs.
"That's all very well," muttered Bérard, "but we can't afford to act rashly, for it'll be a complicated and extremely ugly bit of business at best."
