“Poker! What on earth for?” said Edgar.
“You shall hear. Candover smelt a rat directly, though Gerard smiled and tried to look pleasant. And as the two came in, I, peeping out through the crack of the cupboard door, saw that Candover meant mischief. They sat down together here,” and he pointed to the hearth, “and began to talk. And though Gerard betrayed nothing in his words, he did by his face. And presently I saw Candover fumbling with—a revolver.”
“Oh, nonsense!” said Edgar.
Audrey only clasped her hands, but said nothing.
“He was getting up from his chair, with the revolver hidden under the front of his overcoat, when I dashed out and knocked him over. And, by Jove, we thought I’d killed him!”
“You’ll get yourself into a nice mess if you’ve hurt him!” said Edgar uneasily.
“I’ll risk that,” said Geoffrey recklessly. “At any rate I can prove why I did it, for I’ve got his revolver.”
And as he spoke he took out of his pocket and flourished before his brother’s eyes the weapon he had taken from the hand of Mr. Candover as the latter lay on the floor.
It was loaded in all the five chambers.
A silence fell upon the group as they looked at it, and the sense grew strong upon them all that they were involved in an affair more desperate than they had guessed. Edgar, perhaps for the first time in his life, showed the spirit of a man, and spoke in words befitting the future head of a noble house.