Every moment she expected that Chauvelin would give a signal, that the place would fill with soldiers, that she would rush down and help Percy to sell his life dearly. As he stood there, suavely unconscious, she very nearly screamed out to him,--"Fly, Percy!--'tis your deadly enemy!--fly before it be too late!"But she had not time even to do that, for the next moment Blakeney quietly walked to the table, and, jovially clapped the CUREon the back, said in his own drawly, affected way,--"Odds's fish!. . .er. . .M. Chauvelin. . . . I vow I never thought of meeting you here."Chauvelin, who had been in the very act of conveying soup to his mouth, fairly choked. His thin face became absolutely purple, and a violent fit of coughing saved this cunning representative of France from betraying the most boundless surprise he had ever experienced.
There was no doubt that this bold move on the part of the enemy had been wholly unexpected, as far as he was concerned: and the daring impudence of it completely nonplussed him for the moment.
