She murmured an assent so faint, that though I was bending over her, it scarcely did more than reach my ears. I could do no more. I turned away and resumed my seat. Grooten smiled at me.
"Well, Sir Knight Errant," he said lightly; "so you could not free the maiden?"
"I was made to feel and look like a fool, of course," I answered, "but I don't mind about that. To tell you the truth, I am not satisfied now. The man says that he is her guardian, and that he has just brought her from a convent, where she has lived all her life. He vouchsafed to explain things to me to avoid a row, but he was desperately angry. She has never been out of the convent since she was three years old, and she is very nervous and shy. That was his story, and he told it plausibly enough. I could not get anything out of her, except an admission that what he said was the truth."
Mr. Grooten nodded thoughtfully.
"After all," he said, "she is only a child, fourteen or fifteen at the most, I should suppose. I have paid the bill, and, as you see, I have my coat on. Are you ready?"
"Directly I have finished my coffee," I answered. "It looks too good to leave."
"Finish it, by all means," he answered. "I am in no particular hurry. By-the-bye, I forget whether I showed you this."
He drew a small shining weapon, with rather a long barrel, from his pocket, but though he invited me to inspect it, he retained it in his own hand.
"I bought it in New York a few months ago," he remarked; "it is the latest weapon of destruction invented."
"Is it a revolver?" I asked, a little puzzled by its shape.