"Strange
that you should have the opportunity to hear any talk at all! I was
rather under the impression that you never saw anybody belonging to the
town except from the platform."
"You forget that I was not living with the other girls," she said.
"After meals they used to go back to the Pavilion, but I had to stay in
the hotel and do my sewing, or what not, in the room where they talked."
"I didn't think of that. By the by, you never told me who they were."
"Why, that horrible red-faced beast," she said, with all the energy of
disgust which the mere thought of the hotel-keeper provoked in her.
"Oh, Schomberg!" Heyst murmured carelessly.
"He talked to the boss--to Zangiacomo, I mean. I had to sit there. That
devil-woman sometimes wouldn't let me go away. I mean Mrs. Zangiacomo."
"I guessed," murmured Heyst. "She liked to torment you in a variety
of ways. But it is really strange that the hotel-keeper should talk of
Morrison to Zangiacomo. As far as I can remember he saw very little of
Morrison professionally. He knew many others much better."
The girl shuddered slightly.
"That was the only name I ever overheard. I would get as far away from
them as I could, to the other end of the room, but when that beast
started shouting I could not help hearing. I wish I had never heard
anything. If I had got up and gone out of the room I don't suppose the
woman would have killed me for it; but she would have rowed me in a
nasty way.
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