Then steps approached the recess.

The curtains were flung back, and the two women stood in front of her--the tall Adele Rossignol with her red hair and her coarse good looks and her sapphire dress, and the hard-featured, sallow maid.

The maid was carrying Celia's white coat.

They did not mean to murder her, then.

They meant to take her away, and even then a spark of hope lit up in the girl's bosom.