"That's my business. Leave it alone." Bawdsey took up his hat. "Oh, very well! If you will not be civil I cannot help you to learn who killed your father." "What!" George sprang from the table at which he was writing and seized the man's arm. "Do you know that?" "Gently, Mr. Brendon. No, I do not know, but----" "Then what do you mean by saying----" "We had better have a chat," said Bawdsey, and sat down. "But I wish to know where I stand. Lola loves you. Do you love her?" "No," said Brendon, seeing that he would have to humor the man. "I am engaged to marry Miss Ward." "Will you help me to marry Lola?" "Willingly--though, to tell you the truth, I know very little about you, and to make that girl marry you----" "Oh, Lola can look after herself, Mr. Brendon. If she becomes my wife she will have the upper hand. But I am so deeply in love with her that I am willing to play second fiddle. Can't you dispossess her of this infatuation for you?" George shook his head and groaned. "No. She won't listen to reason." "Well," drawled Bawdsey, recurring to his American accent, "I don't blame her for that. She is in love, and love listens to no one and nothing. I wouldn't listen to reason, either, if it entailed giving up Lola." "See here, Bawdsey, if you can persuade this woman to get over her liking for me, and to marry you, I shall be delighted. I do not know where she is just now, but it is my impression that she has gone away because she is afraid of me." "Afraid of you? Oh, that's absurd!" "No, it isn't. The other morning she saw Miss Ward, and there was a scene in the Park." Bawdsey hung his red head. "I fear that is my fault," he confessed. "I pointed out Miss Ward to Lola, and----" "And it was I who foolishly mentioned that Miss Ward sometimes took a walk in the morning--in the Park." "Oh," said Bawdsey, "I mentioned that also." "Did you wish Lola to see Miss Ward?" asked George, angrily. "No. Nor did I intend to say anything about the walking in the early morning. I simply pointed her out in the box to Lola, so that Lola might see there was no chance of your marrying her." "As if any woman would accept such an excuse," said Brendon, contemptuously. "Then she questioned you about the walk?" "Yes. She mentioned something about what you had told her, and I was rather free with my tongue. I am not usually," said Bawdsey, penitently, "but there's something about Lola that makes me behave like a child. I'm wax in her hands. So she saw Miss Ward?" "Yes. And she knows that I am angry. Of course Miss Ward sent to tell me at once, and I called on Lola to give her a talking to, but she was gone when I arrived." "Would you have spoken harshly to her?" "Certainly. She had no right to trouble Miss Ward. But now you know why I think she has left town. In a week she will come back thinking my anger is at an end." "And will it be?" asked Bawdsey, doubtfully.