"Let us go and play chemin-de-fer"; and they did, moving off into one of the further rooms.
It was not until another hour had passed that Celia rose and went in search of Mme.Dauvray.She found her still talking earnestly to Adele Tace.Mme.Dauvray got up at once.
"Are you ready to go, dear ?" she asked, and she turned to Adele Tace.
"This is Celie, Mme.

Rossignol," she said, and she spoke with a marked significance and a note of actual exultation in her voice.
Celia, however, was not unused to this tone.Mme.Dauvray was proud of her companion, and had a habit of showing her off, to the girl's discomfort.

The three women spoke a few words, and then Mme.

Dauvray and Celia left the rooms and walked to the entrance-doors.

But as they walked Celia became alarmed.
She was by nature extraordinarily sensitive to impressions.