When you called as Mr. Hobhouse that first day I
hadn't the least suspicion to begin with, and then suddenly you began to
look familiar--"
"With this beard!"
"Well, your face isn't all hidden by your beard and I thought I
recognised the other bits. If I hadn't known you were an actor--"
"A pretty bad one, it appears," I interposed.
"Oh, no, indeed, you were simply splendid! You still kept me puzzled and
only half certain even after I had met you and Captain Whiteclett
walking together and noticed you move apart when you saw me. In fact I
wasn't sure till that walk along the shore. I arranged that to make
quite certain."
"You arranged it!" I exclaimed. "The deuce you did, Miss Rendall!"
She laughed defiantly.
"I was dying to make sure! So when I saw you coming towards the house, I
rushed into my things and went out to meet you. I thought if I could take
you the same walk as we had been before, you could hardly help doing
something to give yourself away. And at last you did!"
"May I ask what my relapse was?"
"When I got you to the same place as last time and said the same thing,
I noticed you jump. And then you did really rather give yourself away
when I asked you if you wanted to look at the rocks, and you jumped at
the chance. I know nothing about antiquities--not even as much as you
do, Mr.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202