‘I cannot help you by my advice. I can only say that if you like to trust me, I’ll know how to respect the confidence.’
Walpole looked steadily and steadfastly at him, and the examination seemed to satisfy him, for he said, ‘I will trust you—not that the matter is a secret in any sense that involves consequences; but it is a thing that needs a little tact and discretion, a slight exercise of a light hand, which is what my friend Lockwood fails in. Now you could do it.’
‘If I can, I will. What is it?’
‘Well, the matter is this. I have written a few lines here, very illegibly and badly, as you may believe, for they were with my left hand; and besides having the letter conveyed to its address, I need a few words of explanation.’
‘The Titian Girl,’ muttered Joe, as though thinking aloud.
‘Why do you say so?’
‘Oh, it was easy enough to see her greater anxiety and uneasiness about you. There was an actual flash of jealousy across her features when Miss Kearney proposed coming up to see you.’
‘And was this remarked, think you?’
‘Only by me. I saw, and let her see I saw it, and we understood each other from that moment.’
‘I mustn’t let you mistake me. You are not to suppose that there is anything between Mademoiselle Kostalergi and myself. I knew a good deal about her father, and there were family circumstances in which I was once able to be of use; and I wished to let her know that if at any time she desired to communicate with me, I could procure an address, under which she could write with freedom.’