"No," snapped Adela, and she looked at the floor, whereupon Tom diverted his eyes from her and stared at the ceiling.
Presently he searched in his waistcoat pocket and brought out a little note.
"Read that," he said, a world of disgust in his tone.
"'I told you so.—B.C.'" read Adela. "Oh, it's that Cormack woman!" she cried.
"You see what it means? She means I've been got rid of in order that——" Tom stopped, and brought his clenched fist down on his opened palm. "If I thought it, I'd shoot the fellow," he ended.
He looked at her for the answer to his unexpressed question.
Adela turned the pestilential note over and over in her fingers, handling it daintily as though it might stain.
"I don't think he means it," she said at last, without trying to blink the truth of Tom's interpretation.
Tom rose and began to walk about.
"Women beat me," he broke out. "I don't understand 'em. How should I? I'm not one of these fellows who catch women's fancy—thank God!"