The Craze of Christina — page 186: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

182 The Craze of Christina. Yes, that was it. She was nothing but a hired, paid female detective, and he was her ~ dupe and her victim! At this point the landlord of the Hotel de- l’Oiseau fled incontinently up the staircase. All English people were doubtless mad, else why do they require to wash all over every day? But so violent a lunatic as this had never be- fore come over from that insane island to frighten honest and peaceable French citizens out of their senses. This man had evidently escaped from an asylum! There were voices on the stairs, a confused hubbub on the landing above, a noise of hurry- ing footsteps, of doors banging. Clifford heard and heeded nothing; his only thought now was escape. The vehicle that had brought him had vanished; he could see no other in the courtyard. Yet he must go at once, he must go back to England; the time was not too long, for it was already Saturday afternoon. If he got back to Amiens that even- ing he could then catch the morning boat train and be across the channel by this time to-mor- row; and the sooner he put the ocean between himself and this false and delusive woman, the sooner he burnt his ships and cut her out of his existence the betier.. GComicbooks: cc