“Look here!” he said, abruptly. “Who was that man—the one who—hired me?”
“Him? The Prince of Wales!” Eddy replied. “Thought you’d recognized him.”
This was Ross’s last attempt at questioning. Indeed, he was quite willing to be silent now, for his deplorably postponed thinking was now well under way. His brain was busy with the events of this day—this immeasurably long day. Was it only this morning that he had got the note? Only this morning that he had said good-by to Phyllis Barron?
“She’d be a bit surprised if she knew where I’d gone!” he thought.
And then, with a sort of shock, it occurred to him that nobody—absolutely nobody on earth knew where he had gone, or cared. These people here did not know even his name. He had come here, had walked into this situation, and if he never came out again, who would be troubled?
Mr. Teagle had not expected him at any definite time, and would wait for weeks and weeks before feeling the least anxiety about his unknown client. The people at the Hotel Miston would scarcely notice for some time the absence of Mr. Ross of New York, especially as his luggage remained there to compensate them for any loss. Nobody would be injured, or unhappy, or one jot the worse, if he never saw daylight again.
This was one aspect of a completely free life which he had not considered. He was of no interest or importance to any one. He began to consider it now.
Eddy had cleared away their meal, and had been turning over the pages of a magazine. Now he began to yawn, and presently, getting up, opened another door, to display a tidy little bedroom.
“Whenever you’re ready to go by-by, shover,” he suggested.
“Thanks, I’m all right where I am,” Ross asserted.