“What is it that you have found?” she cried breathlessly.
“Nothing,” he answered, “nothing of any importance.”
She rose slowly to her feet and came towards him.
“I am your partner in this hateful enterprise,” she reminded him. “Show me that paper which you have just concealed.”
He laid his hand on the lid of the desk, but she caught it and held it open.
“I insist upon seeing it,” she said firmly.
He turned and faced her. There was a most unpleasant light in his eyes.
“And I say that you shall not,” he declared.
There was a brief, intense silence. Each seemed to be measuring the other’s strength. Of the two, Catherine was the more composed. Fenn’s face was still white and strained. His lips were twitching, his manner nervous and jerky. He made a desperate effort to reestablish ordinary relations.
“Look here, Miss Abbeway,” he said, “we don’t need to quarrel about this. That paper I came across has a special interest for me personally. I want to think about it before I say anything to a soul in the world.”