“Have you had bad news?”
Her letters were open on the table. She shook her head.
“No; the butcher’s arithmetic is a little embrangled. Ever heard that word before, Gordon? I guess you haven’t! I found it in Tom Brown’s School Days. Bobbie, don’t stare, it’s very rude....”
Under her covering hand was the letter she had been reading.
Mr. Dempsi was very much alive: was in London at that moment. The opening lines of his letter were significant.
“My bride! I have come to claim you!”
Dempsi always wrote like that.
CHAPTER X
Ten minutes later, Bobbie walked into his brother’s room without knocking, and interrupted what seemed to be a very confidential interview. Trenter pocketed a sheaf of telegrams in haste, but not so quickly that Bobbie did not see them. He made no comment until Mr. Trenter, in his best suit and looking unusually spruce, had made a hurried departure.
“Trenter’s going down to see his sick aunt,” explained his master.