“Oh, you know best,” she replied. “Only I should think that you would take some of the miniatures.”
“The miniatures?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes,” said the girl. “They are the loveliest I’ve ever seen and they’ll hardly take up any room at all. If we are going to be away such a long time I think it would be safer to take them.”
It was palpable to Travers Gladwin that the big chap had received a psychic jolt, for his hand trembled a little as he laid down the canvases on the top of the chest and addressed the girl:
“I didn’t know you’d seen the miniatures.”
“Oh, yes, when I was here this afternoon.”
He took this between the eyes without flinching. His voice was marvellously steady as he said:
“I didn’t know you were here this afternoon.”
“You didn’t?” she asked in a puzzled tone. “How funny! You’d just gone out when I called, but two of your friends were here and one of them showed me the miniatures, and china, and plate and lots of things. Why, I left a message for you about the opera––didn’t they tell you?”