'Here, she should be.

I left her here not an hour ago.

Mon Dieu! Is she not here now ?' His alarm increased mine tenfold.

'No!' I retorted, 'she is not! She is gone! And you--what business had you, in the fiend's name, to leave her here, alone and unprotected?
Tell me that!' He leaned against the balustrade, making no attempt to defend himself, and seemed, in his sudden terror, anything but the bold, alert fellow who had ascended the stairs two minutes before.

'I was a fool,' he groaned.