Detective and mystery stories; Fiction; Love stories
"Oh, you have made your meaning quite clear, I assure you!" interrupted
Cyril. "But what you have been saying is sheer nonsense. You have been
calling me to account for things that have not happened, and blaming me
for what I have not done. She is not being dragged through the divorce
court, and I see no reason to suppose that she ever will be. I am not
trying to force her to marry me, and can promise that I shall never do
so. Far from taking advantage of the situation, I assure you my conduct
has been most circumspect. Don't cross a bridge till you get to it, and
don't accuse a man of being a cad just because--" Cyril paused abruptly
and looked at Guy, and as he did so, his expression slowly relaxed till
he finally smiled indulgently--"just because a certain lady is very
charming," he added.
But Guy was not to be pacified. He would neither retract nor modify his
ultimatum. He knew, of course, that Cyril would not dare to write the
girl; for if the letter miscarried or was found by the police, it might
be fatal to both.
But while they were still heatedly debating the question, a way suddenly
occurred to Cyril by which he could communicate with her with absolute
safety. So he waited placidly for Guy to take himself off, which he
eventually did, visibly elated at having, as he thought, effectually put
a stop to further intercourse between the two. He had hardly left the
club, however, before Cyril was talking to Priscilla over the telephone!
He explained to her as best he could that he had been called out of town
for a few days, and begged her on no account to leave her apartments
till he returned. He also tried to impress on her that she had better
talk about him as little as possible and above all things not to mention
either to Campbell or Miss Trevor that she had heard from him and
expected to see him before long.
It cost Cyril a tremendous effort to restrict himself to necessary
instructions and polite inquiries, especially as she kept begging him to
come back to her as soon as possible. Finally he could bear the strain
no longer, and in the middle of a sentence he resolutely hung up the
receiver.
CHAPTER XIV
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
When Cyril arrived in Newhaven that evening, he was unpleasantly
surprised to find, as he got out of the train, that Judson had been
travelling in the adjoining compartment. Had the man been following him,
or was it simply chance that had brought them together, he wondered. Oh!
If he could only get rid of the fellow!
"You have come to see me, I suppose," he remarked ungraciously.
"Yes, my lord."
"Very well, then, get into the car."
Cyril was in no mood to talk, so the first part of the way was
accomplished in silence, but at last, thinking that he might as well
hear what the man had to say, he turned to him and asked:
"Have you found out anything of any importance?"
"I fancy so, my lord."
"Really! Well, what is it?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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