other laws, in order to be assured of a woman's safety. But under the
circumstances he could not doubt its genuineness. What he doubted was
its exact import. And what he objected to in it was its lack of
information. He wished ardently to know whether Ravengar and Tudor, or
either of them, had been wounded, and if so, by whose revolver; for he
could not be certain that it was Camilla who had fired. An examination
of the revolver which he and she had passed from hand to hand had shown
two chambers undischarged. He wished ardently to know how she had
contrived to settle her account with Tudor, and yet get away in Tudor's
brougham, unless it was by a wile worthy of the diplomacy of a Queen
Elizabeth. And he wished ardently to understand a hundred and one other
things concerning Camilla, Tudor, and Ravengar, and the permutations and
combinations of these three, which offered apparently insoluble problems
to his brain. Nevertheless, there was one assurance which seemed to him
to emerge clearly from the note, and to atone for its vagueness--a
vagueness, however, perfectly excusable, he reflected, having regard to
the conditions in which it was written--namely, that Camilla intended to
arrive, as usual, in Department 42 that morning. What significance could
be attached to the phrase, 'When next I see you, _if there is
opportunity_,' unless it signified that she anticipated seeing him next
in the shop and in the course of business? Moreover, he felt that it
would be just like Camilla to start by behaving to him as though nothing
had occurred. (But he would soon alter that, he said masterfully.) He
was, on the whole, happy as he lay in bed. She knew that he loved her.
They had been intimate. In three hours at most he would see her again.
And his expectations ran high. Indeed, she had already begun to exist in
his mind as his life's companion.

Simon coughed politely but firmly.