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THE ARROW OF GOLD
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audible. At one moment Dona Rita turned her head to the room and called out to the maid, "Give me my hand-bag off the sofa."
At this the other was heard plainly, "No, no," and then a little lower, "You have no tact, Rita.…" Then came her argument in a low, penetrating voice which I caught, "Why not? Between such old friends." However, she waved away the hand-bag, he calmed down, and their voices sank again. Presently I saw him raise her hand to his lips, while with her back to the room she continued to contemplate out of the window the bare and untidy garden. At last he went out of the room, throwing to the table an airy "Bonjour, bonjour," which was not acknowledged by any of us three.
