“Take it back if you will;” and I held it out.
He shook his head and did not take it. “If you find out the truth you will tell me?” he asked.
“I make no promise. I may or I may not, but frankly that will turn upon my own concerns, not upon yours.”
“You are very straight,” he said, with a slow hesitating smile, much more suggestive of vexation than mirth.
“I think we had better leave it there. It is not improbable that if I do get at the truth I may need your help. In that case I shall come to you.”
“I should like something more definite.”
I shook my head. “Not yet, at any rate,” I said.
“I may visit you?”
“At any time you please. And now, I’ll be off.”
While we had been speaking Maral was taking papers from the desk, and as he turned and held out his hand to bid me good-night, we heard the sound of loud knocking at the door of the house.