"It appears to be wonderful," was all he said, guardedly.
Mrs. Barry eyed him sharply and Miss Laidlaw appeared to be ill at ease. Evidently she wanted to believe in Creighton and his motor, yet her natural caution forbade her. The entrance of Kennedy into the case seemed to have proved a disturbing factor between the two women, to have brought matters to a head.
We chatted for a few minutes, Kennedy deftly refusing to commit himself on anything, Mrs. Barry seeking to lead him into expressing some opinion, and endeavoring to conceal her exasperation as he avoided doing so.
At last Kennedy glanced at his watch, which reminded him of a mythical appointment, sufficient to terminate the visit.
"I'm very glad to have met you," he bowed to Mrs. Barry, as she, too, rose to go, while he preserved the fiction of merely having dropped in to see Miss Laidlaw. He turned to her. "I should be delighted to have both you and Mr. Tresham drop in at my laboratory some time, Miss Laidlaw."
Miss Laidlaw caught his eye and read in it that this was his way, under the circumstances, of asking her to keep in touch with him.
"I shall do so," she promised.
We parted from Mrs. Barry at the door of her taxicab.
"A very baffling woman," I remarked a moment later. "Do you suppose she is as intimate with Creighton as she implies?"
Kennedy shook his head. "It isn't that that interests me most, just now," he replied. "What I can't figure out is Adele Laidlaw's attitude toward both Creighton and Tresham. She seems to resent Mrs. Barry's intimacy with either."