Then he saw that
the force of his fall had somehow opened a trap-door at his feet.
He squeezed through, pushed open another tiny door, and in
another second stood in the State bathroom. He was dishevelled,
perspiring, rather bewildered; but he was there. In the next second
he had resumed absolute command of all his faculties.
Strange to say, he had moved so quietly that Rocco had apparently
not heard him. He stepped noiselessly to the door between the
bathroom and the bedroom, and stood there in silence. Rocco had
switched on again the lights over the washstand and was busy with
his utensils.
Racksole deliberately coughed.
Chapter Fourteen ROCCO ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS
ROCCO turned round with the swiftness of a startled tiger, and
gave Theodore Racksole one long piercing glance.
'D--n!' said Rocco, with as pure an Anglo-Saxon accent and
intonation as Racksole himself could have accomplished.
The most extraordinary thing about the situation was that at this
juncture Theodore Racksole did not know what to say. He was so
dumbfounded by the affair, and especially by Rocco's absolute and
sublime calm, that both speech and thought failed him.
'I give in,' said Rocco. 'From the moment you entered this cursed
hotel I was afraid of you. I told Jules I was afraid of you. I knew
there would be trouble with a man of your kidney, and I was right;
confound it! I tell you I give in.
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