‘Then you inquired at the bank?’ she asked swiftly.
‘It was my last act of spying,’ he said. ‘Why dare you not search for your father, Miss Craig?’
‘Because—because I might find more than I wished to find.’
‘You talk in riddles,’ he said firmly. ‘We can do nothing here; let us go back to Hockiffe.
I will accompany you, and on the way you shall answer my questions. I have many to put to you. Leave everything to me; imagine that I am your brother. I have often laughed at the man’s phrase to a woman, “I would lay down my life for you,” but at this moment I feel what it means. Do not mistake me; do not think I am talking wildly. Perhaps I have a better idea of your trouble than you think. But, in any case, you must trust me as you trusted me when first you saw me. You must rely on me. Come, let us go.’
She rose and moved towards the door, ‘Thanks,’ she said, nothing more than that—‘thanks.’
In one part of his mind Richard wondered at himself, in another he felt curiously and profoundly happy.