With the memory his heart almost ceased, then leaped with the resurgence of his fear for her; he looked around him until he discovered a leather swinging door, and when he opened it a wide hallway lay before him and a stairway rose beyond.
Over the thick carpet he hastened, then up the stairs, cautiously, listening at every step.
Somewhere above, coming apparently from behind a closed door, he heard the heavy vibration of a voice, and knew whose it was.
Guided by it along the upper passageway, he passed the open doors of several bedrooms, card rooms, private dining-rooms, all empty and the furniture covered with sheets, until he came to a closed door.
Behind it, the heavy voice of Wildresse sounded menacingly; he waited until it rose to a roar, then tried the door under cover of the noise within. It was locked, and he stood close to it, listening, striving to think out the best way.
Behind the locked door Wildresse was shouting now, and Warner heard every word:
"By God!" he roared in English. "You had better not try to lie to me! Do you want your neck twisted?"
"I ask you again, what did you do with that paper I gave you by mistake?" he repeated.
Suddenly Warner’s heart stood still, as Philippa’s voice came to him, low but distinct:
"I never lie," came the subdued voice. "I burned it."
"You slut! How dared you touch it at all?"
"And you knew it was a mistake, you treacherous cat! My God! Have I nourished you for this, you little snake, that you turn your poisonous teeth on me?"
"Your country! You miserable foundling, did you suppose yourself French?"
"France is the only country I have known. I refuse to betray her."
"France!" he shouted. "France! A hell of a country to snivel about! You can’t tell me anything about France—the dirty kennel full of mongrels that it is! France? To hell with France!
"What has she done for me? What has she done to me? Chased me out of Paris; forced my only son into her filthy army; hunted us both without mercy—finally hunted my son into the Battalions of Biribi—me into this damned pigpen of Ausone! That’s what France has done to me and mine!—Blackmailed me into playing the _mouchard_ for her—forcing me to play spy for her by threatening to hunt me into La Nouvelle!