The query was so sudden, so unexpected that Colonel Harris instinctively uttered an exclamation of amazement.
"Luke! By God, man! Are you mad?"
Louisa said nothing. She was trying to understand the un-understandable. Luke almost smiled at the other man's bewilderment.
"No, sir," he said, "not mad I think. I only want to know how I stand."
"How you stand, man?" ejaculated Colonel Harris with uncontrolled vehemence. "Great Heavens, don't you realize that here is some damned conspiracy as mysterious as it is damnable, and that you will have to look this seriously in the face, if you don't wish to find yourself in the dock before the next four and twenty hours?"
"I am," replied Luke simply, "looking the matter squarely in the face, sir, but I don't quite see how I can avoid standing in the dock as you say, before the next four and twenty hours. You see I had quarrelled with Philip, and my stick—which contained a dagger—was found in the park, covered with mud, as you say, and other stains."
"But, hang it all, man! you did not murder your cousin!"
This was not a query but an assertion. Colonel Harris's loyalty had not wavered, but he could not contrive to keep the note of anxiety out of his voice: nor did he reiterate the assertion when Luke made no answer to it.
Once more the latter passed his hand over the back of his head. You know that gesture. It is so English! and always denotes a certain measure of perturbation. Then he said with seeming irrelevance:
"I suppose I had better go now."