"I dare say. But I don't know what you mean."
He gave the nervous little laugh which helped him over moments of embarrassment.
"Ford was with me last night. He said it was all off between him and Evie."
"I thought he might tell you that."
"So that," he went on, forcing a smile, with which his voice and manner were not in accord, "our undertaking having failed, the bottom's out of everything. Don't you see?"
She was so astonished that she walked into his trap, just as he expected.
"I don't see in the least. I thought our undertaking—as you call it—was going to be particularly successful."
"Successful—how?"
He dropped his smile and looked interrogative, his bit of acting still keeping her off her guard.
"Why, if Amalia Gramm's testimony is all you think it's going to be——"