“Oh, I—I thank you very much,” she replied, and though her nervousness was apparent, she managed to control herself. Mr. Harris gently led her to a seat, remarking in a whisper, “I’ll write the check for you at once.”
She turned upon him very grateful eyes, but almost instantly a shadow crept across her face as she said, “The security I have to offer——”
Mr. Harris looked pained, and lifting his hand, he interrupted her with, “Don’t, please don’t let the security trouble you.”
Again Virginia’s eyes unconsciously fastened upon Rutley, who at the same time was regarding her with a keen inquiring gaze. It was the first time they had met since the night of Thorpe’s quarrel with Corway, and although Virginia had resolved to cast off all fear of his threat of incriminating disclosures, she nevertheless, while in his presence, felt a subtle influence change her rebellious disposition into a timorous apprehension. The sensation was so strange, so creepy, and at the same time so convincing, that she arose from the seat and muttered in broken accents, “I—I’ll await you outside, Mr. Harris. The air in this room is—is so close.”
She had turned half around toward the door, when Mrs. Harris addressed her.
“Virginia, dear! Don’t go! Most interesting. My lord has just related how last night he accidentally knocked Sam down near the City Park.”
Virginia unconsciously repeated, “Last night, he accidentally knocked Sam down, near the City Park.”
The information was so startling and her curiosity so keen that she stared at Rutley and Sam alternately, while they in turn stared at each other and at her most significantly.
Mrs. Harris observed the wonderment her information had created, but without troubling her easy brains to penetrate the meaning, added, after due pause, “Yes, dear—a bandaged head, as you see, was the result.”
“It was very dark, near midnight, and his lordship was driving an automobile fast.”