But there, there"-- he seemed in sudden haste again.

"Take it to her in God's name.
She will be impatient." I thought he sneered.

"O, she will praise your diligence," he added, and this time I was sure that he sneered.
I took it, thanked him, and left the room intrigued.

And when I rejoined them, and handed her the manuscript, the odd thing was that the subject of their discourse having meanwhile shifted, it no longer interested her, and she never once opened the pages she had been in such haste to have me procure.
This, too, was puzzling, even to one who was beginning to know his world But I was not done with riddles.

For presently out came Fifanti himself, looking, if possible, yellower and more sour and lean than usual.