“More detectives? But I thought——”
“I did, too. Mrs. Cabot, however, has not accepted Judge Strang’s decision as final. She has postponed her trip abroad and from Newport is directing an attack on his integrity and mine. Through influence and the manipulations of a brilliant shyster, she is trying to re-open the case in another court. Meanwhile, she is acting on the theory expressed in the old French proverb that ‘love and smoke are unable to conceal themselves?’”
Evidently love, at least, was not. With his white, slim hand Holt shielded his eyes from sight of her face and continued:
“More than before is the Cabot name threatened, your good name and mine. Unless we are discreet she may have a case which just might convince a judge less discerning than my friend Roscoe Strang and let the Bar Association get its claws into me. If your whereabouts should be chanced upon, if the florist should be inspired to tell of the daily flowers paid for by the lawyer who lost Mrs. Cabot’s first case, even if friend pup here should yap his identity abroad—Do you see, Miss Trent, why my advice has been insistent?”
After a keen glance at her he continued: “But I fear that my advice is losing its punch. You see, I have an imagination. I know John Cabot and I have seen you. Perhaps I haven’t made clear the absolute faith I feel in both of you. Wish I could put it beautifully with all the words and music. But we men weren’t meant to be gods in strength, you know. Why, even I have a secret vice!”
He smiled across at her youthfully; at her continued silence, added:
“I wriggle my toes.”
But the girl did not smile back. She couldn’t
“What is it you wish me to do?” she asked.
“I wish you to put yourself beyond reach. John’s weak spot is you. He acknowledges it. He looks haggard and acts worse—is beginning to fear that he can’t hold out. And, of course, with that fear in his heart, he won’t. I wish you to remove his temptation—until matters are adjusted, not to let him know your whereabouts and under no circumstances to write to him. Even his mail may be watched—there can be traitors in any man’s office—and nothing is so damning as written evidence.”