There were no lights in the windows, and the front door, always open by day, was closed. But the voice which answered Simone's call on the 'phone that afternoon had warned her that this would be so, and had told her what to do. Following instructions, she descended the steps to a basement door, and touched an electric bell above which, on a small brass plate, was the word "Janitor."
Two or three minutes passed, and brought no answer. But suddenly, as Simone was about to ring again, the door opened on a chain.
"What do you want?" a woman's voice demanded through the aperture.
"To see the editor of the _Inner Circle_," replied Simone. "I have an appointment with him."
"Oh! What is your name?" questioned the voice.
The chain fell, and the door opened as if the Frenchwoman, challenged, had given the countersign. Simone squeezed through the small space allowed her, and the door instantly shut.
It was dark in the basement passage except for the light that came from a room at the back. The woman--the janitor's wife, perhaps--had a little knitted shawl over her head, as though she were suffering from neuralgia. Simone could not see what she was like, whether old or young, except that her silhouette loomed tall and slender against the dim light.
"Can you find your way up?" asked the voice.
"Yes," said Simone, "I was told it would be dark,--and that I must bring an electric torch. I have brought it."
"Very well. Go up, and knock when you come to the door. Mr. Jones is expecting you."
Simone switched on the flame of her torch, and went up.
Next morning Jack Manners was hideously jerked from sleep before eight by the jangle of a telephone bell close to his bed. In self-defence he reached out and grabbed the receiver, in haste to stop the din.
"Hello!" his voice said: but his tone said "Damn!" And he was astounded when Juliet answered. Juliet! 'phoning at this hour! Juliet, who had been at the opera last night, as he happened to know, and who had always loved her beauty sleep, as a young bird loves its nest!
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Jack," she was saying. "I suppose you were fast asleep, and you'll wish you hadn't told me you were going to stop at the Tarascon. But I can't help it! Do you mind getting up and dressing in a hurry, and letting me come round to see you?"