"Oh, not yet, surely not yet! Really!" babbled Mrs. Durham with shallow enthusiasm. Then finding Hilliston was resolved to go, and catching sight of a newly arrived celebrity, she hastened, after the amiable fashion of her kind, to speed the parting guest. "Well, if you must, you must. Good-by, good-by! Excuse me, I see Mr. Rawler, a delightful man—writes plays, you know. The new Shakspere; yes!" and thus talking she melted away with a babble of words, leaving Hilliston and his ward alone.
They were mutually surprised to see one another, Claude because he knew his guardian did not affect Bohemianism, and Hilliston because he thought that the young man had left town. The meeting was hardly a pleasant one, as Hilliston dreaded lest Mrs. Bezel should have said too much, and so prejudiced Claude against him.
"I understood from your refusal of my invitation that you had gone to Thorston with Tait," said he, after a pause.
"I am going to-morrow or the next day," replied Claude quickly, "but in any event I intended to call on you before I left town."
"Indeed!" said Hilliston nervously; "you have something to tell me?"
"Yes. I have seen Mrs. Bezel."
"Good. You have seen Mrs. Bezel."
"And I have made a discovery."
"Oh! Has the lady informed you who committed the crime?"
"No. But she told me her name."