She was not at all amused. “Bob,” she said as she drew up before the door, “don’t go in. I really do not feel as if I could bear another scandal. Don’t be foolhardy. This man is terribly mysterious.”
“Why, you excite my curiosity,” he said, and gently putting her out of his path, he went into the house ahead of her and found himself confronted by Doctor Nuñez.
The ensuing conference was long. Dinner came and went; but still Vickers was shut up in the little library with his strange visitor. Mr. Lee had gone to bed, Emmons had long since arrived, but his fiancée gave him but a strained attention. She sat listening for the opening of the library door. If the voices within were raised enough to become audible, she thought that a quarrel was in progress; if they sank, the silence terrified her more.
“Now some people like a straight southerly exposure,” Emmons was saying, “but give me a southwesterly. You get the sun in——”
Nellie suddenly stood up. “What can they be doing?” she said. “That queer-looking man has been here over three hours.”
“Up to no good, the two of them, I have no doubt,” said Emmons, and added, “I hope you don’t keep much money in the house.”
She turned on him sharply. “How absurd you are, James. You can’t suppose—” but she was cut short by the opening of the library door, and the sound of the two men’s voices, as they crossed the hall.
“Do you know any Spanish, James?” she asked quickly.
Emmons shook his head.
“I speak no language but my own,” he answered proudly.