It was a very cold and unenthusiastic one.
"That is Mr.Packard's secretary," said she.

"He will join the mayor just as soon as he has finished certain preparations intrusted to him." "Oh!" was their quiet rejoinder, but a note of disappointment rang in both voices as the door shut behind him.
"One does not often see a perfectly handsome man." I stepped down to meet her when she in turn had shut the door upon them.
But I stopped half-way.

She was standing with her head turned away from me and the knob still in her hand.

I saw that she was thinking or was the prey of some rapidly growing resolve.
Suddenly she seized the key and turned it.
"The house is closed for the night," she announced as she looked up and met my astonished gaze.

"No one goes out or comes in here again till morning.