Mrs. Bob: A Novel — page 253: what you’re looking at

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

SO HAS THAT SCHEMER MONSIEUR MERLE. 245 At this moment Craig, who is just behind them, leans forward so that his head is close to theirs, and they hear him whisper: ‘“Have you found them ?”’ ‘Only the colonel and that Frenchman,’’ replies Gypsy, behind her fan. ‘“They have been here longer than ourselves, and they have not noticed our coming.”’ ‘‘I believe that is true, as they have not once looked this way.’’ Itis Bob who speaks this time, careful to modulate his voice so he may not annoy those who are close by. ‘‘Follow their eyes, and you may discover what you seek.”’ Bob comprehends—the advice 1s good, and worthy of the shrewd man who gives it, as Monsieur Merle, the little lawyer who loves his fancy scarfs and dashing velvet vests, is, of course, deeply interested in watching the parties they seek. At a glance Bob is able to discover that the two men have their attention pretty well taken up in a certain quarter, vouchsafing only an occasional look into the direction of the stage. This gives him his cue, but another, with sharper eyes than his own, urged on by the eagerness of a child in search of its mother, 1s ahead of him. “T see them,’’ her lips utter, ‘‘in the box.’”’ Bob is already gazing in that direction, and now sees for himself. Yes, there is an old gentleman—he sits a little back as though shunning the gaze of the thousands present. So far as Bob is able to see, he may be Squire Gordon, the strange, vindictive old COLNE OO <S,COM