And behind her, at a safe distance,
crouched Julie Hamon, watching Nance and L'Etat at the same time, as a
cat in the shade watches a sparrow playing in the sunshine.
"What will be the end? What will be the end?" sighed Nance. They had all
gone down out of sight, across there, and it was terrible to sit here
waiting, waiting, waiting for what she feared.
If they had indeed run Gard to his hiding-place, as Philip Vaudin had
said, there could be but one possible end to it; and she sat, sad-eyed
and wistful, waiting for them to come up again.
It seemed as if they would never come, and she never took her eyes off
the rock wall on L'Etat.
And then at last she sprang to her feet. One of them had come up again.
She could not see which. Then the others appeared, and they seemed to
stand talking. Then one went off round the slope and another ran after
him, and the other two went back into the rock wall.
What could they be at? She stood gazing intently.
The two came up again, and--yes--they carried something, or one of them
did, and they two went off round the corner also.
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