Anger was in the air. They heard a small noise of Payne sucking his leathery jaws in against his teeth. He repeated, "Just so!" in his low, dry voice, but you knew that he felt the licking flames.
"If you will excuse me, gentlemen," he continued, very impassive, "I shall accompany Miss Starberth… No, sir," as Rampole made a movement, "on this occasion, no. There are confidential matters I must express. Without interference, I hope. I have already discharged a part of my duty in handing over the keys to Mr. Martin Starberth. The rest remains. As — ah — possibly an older friend than the rest of you," his thin voice went high and rasping, and he almost snarled, "I may possibly be permitted to keep some matters confidential."
Rampole was so mad that he came close to an absurd gulp. "Did you say `manners'?" he asked.
"Steady," said Dr. Fell.
"Come along, Miss Starberth," said the lawyer.
They saw him shoot in his cuffs and hobble forward, and the white flash of his eyes as he glanced
his shoulder. Rampole pressed the girl's hand; then both of them were gone…
"Tut, tut!" complained the doctor, after a pause. "Don't swear. He's only jealous of his position as family adviser. I'm much too worried to swear. I had a theory, but… I don't know. It's going all wrong. All wrong… Come along to dinner."
Mumbling to himself, he led the way up the lane. Something cried aloud in Rampole's heart, and the dusk was full of phantoms. For a moment the released, laughing creature with the wind in her hair as she raced; the wistfulness of the square sombre face, wry-smiling on a bridge; the practicality, the mockery, the little Puckish humours; then suddenly the pallor by the hedge, and the small gasp when these terrors crept back. Don't let anything happen to her. Keep good watch, that no harm may touch her. Keep good watch, for this is her brother….
Their footfalls rustled in the grass, and the insect-hum pulsed in shrill droning. Distantly, in the thick air to the west, there was a mutter of thunder.