Then he turned his head, and for the space of two seconds his eyes across the narrow street encountered those of his chief.

He had the presence of mind not to make a sign or to utter a sound; he was obviously being followed, but in that brief moment Sir Percy had seen in the young man's eyes a look that reminded him of a hunted creature.
"What have those brutes been up to with him, I wonder ?" he muttered between clenched teeth.
Armand soon disappeared under the doorway of the same house where he had been lodging all along.

Even as he did so Blakeney saw the two spies gather together like a pair of slimy lizards, and whisper excitedly one to another.

A third man, who obviously had been dogging Armand's footsteps, came up and joined them after a while.
Blakeney could have sworn loudly and lustily, had it been possible to do so without attracting attention.

The whole of Armand's history in the past twenty-four hours was perfectly clear to him.