Somebody had rolled up the studio shades. Sunshine turned the great square window to a sheet of dazzling glory, and against it, picked out in delicate silhouette, a magic shadow was moving--a dainty, unreal shape, exquisite as a tinted phantom stealing through a fairy tale of Old Japan.
Suddenly the figure turned its head and saw him, and stood motionless against the flare of light--a young girl, very slim in her shimmering vestments of blossom-sprayed silk.
The next moment he walked straight into the studio.
Neither spoke. She examined him out of wide and prettily shaped eyes; he inspected her with amazed intentness. Everything about her seemed so unreal, so subtly fragrant--the pink peonies like fluffy powder-puffs above each little close-set ear, the rose-tinted silhouette of her, the flushed cheeks, soft bare arms, the silk-sheathed feet shod in tiny straw sandals tied with vermilion cords.
"Who are you?" she asked; and her voice seemed to him as charmingly unreal as the rest of the Japanese fairy tale that held him enthralled.
"Will you please go out again at once!" she said, and he woke up partly.
"This--this is perfectly incredible," he said slowly.
"It is, indeed," she said, placing a snowy finger upon an electric button and retaining it there.
He regarded her without comprehension, muttering:
"I--I simply cannot realize it--that cat--those g-garments--you----"
"There is another thing you don't realize," she said with heightened color, "that I am steadily ringing the janitor's bell--and the janitor is large and violent and Irish, and he is probably halfway upstairs by this time----"
"Do you take me for a malefactor?" he asked, astounded.
"I am not afraid of you in the least," she retorted, still keeping her finger on the bell.
"I am _not_! Although your two suit cases are probably packed with the silver from my dressing stand."
"Then--then--what have you put into your suit cases? _What_ are you doing in this apartment? And will you please leave your suit cases and escape immediately?"
Her voice betrayed a little unsteadiness now, and Edgerton said:
"Please don't be frightened if I seem to remain----"
"Of course, I am." He forced an embarrassed smile. "I've got to; I haven't any other place to go. There are all kinds of complications here, and I think you had better listen to me and stop ringing. The janitor is out anyway."