Then Larose again penciled a few words—this time: “Look me straight in the face, please, and keep your eyes fixed on mine.”
The woman now seemed terrified, but she did as he commanded, and he rewarded her with a pleasant smile.
He waited perhaps five seconds, and then putting the pencil and paper back in his pocket, said in his ordinary tone of voice, “You are not deaf at all. You can hear quite well what I am saying.”
The woman became pale as death, her jaw dropped, and her eyes opened widely. She clutched at the table with both hands and began to breathe quickly.
“Now don't distress yourself,” said Larose kindly, “for it's your secret and I have no intention of giving you away. I'm a detective, it's true, but I'm not after you, and if you choose to serve a very eccentric master as a
