Laurent wasn't given to projecting his emotions, but he gave a tiny flinch of surprise when the girlish voice sounded from behind him. Frowning, he replaced the book he had taken, and watched the wall close again as if nothing had ever happened.

"Presumably they thought no one would be interested in The Effortless Elegance of the Hedgehog," he remarked, reading off the spine. "Yet that is precisely the sort of oddity I collect."