der to me was that any one believed the
miserable creature. Truth wouldn't be truth if it came from Ching Po.
Yet if two men who were obviously prepossessed in the lady's favor were
so easily to be convinced by his report, some old suspicions, some
forgotten facts must have rushed out of the dark to foregather with it.
French Eva had been afraid of the Chinaman; yet even Follet had
pooh-poohed her fears; and her reputation was--or had been--well-nigh
stainless on Naapu, which is, to say the least, a smudgy place.
Still--there was only one road for reason to take, and in spite of these
obstacles it wearily and doggedly took it.

Joe, of course, was still absent; and though I was never more in need of
food, my larder was empty. I would not go to Dubois's and encounter
Follet and Ching Po. Perhaps Madame Mauer would give me a sandwich. I
wanted desperately to have done with the whole sordid business; and had
there been food prepared for me at home, I think I should have
barricaded myself there. But my hunger joined hands with a lurking
curiosity. Between them they drove me to Madame Mauer's.

The lady bustled about at once to supply my needs. Her husband was still
away, and lunch there was not in any proper sense. But she fed me with
odd messes and endless cups of coffee. Hunger disappeared leaving
curiosity starkly apparent.

"How's Eva?" I asked.

Madame Mauer pursed her lips. "She went away an hour ago."

"Home?"

The lady shrugged her shoulders. "It looked like it. I did not ask her.
She would go--with many thanks, but with great resolution.--What has
happened to you?" she went on smoothly.

I deliberated. Should I tell madame anything or should I not? I decided
not to. "Ching Po went back to the hotel," I said. "I don't believe he
meant to annoy you."

She let the subject drop loyally. And, indeed, with Ching Po and French
Eva both out of the way, she had become quite normal again. Of course,
if I would not let her question me, I could not in fairness question
her. So we talked on idly, neither one, I dare say, quite sure of the
other, and both ostensibly content to wait. Or she may have had reasons
as strong as mine for wishing to forget the affair of the morning.

I grew soothed and oblivious. The thing receded. I was just thinking of
going home when Follet appeared at the gate. Then I realized how futile
had been our common reticence.

"Is Eva here?" he shouted before he reached us.

"She went home lo