“Yes, he danced with me.”
“After which,” resumed Lord Ashley, “you both made the customary promenade and conversed together.”
“We passed into the royal conservatory.”
“So that,” said Lord Ashley, with a pleasant smile, “you are the last person with whom Captain Mortimer is known to have been seen on that eventful night.”
“I was not aware of that.”
“Such is the case, however.”
“Well, even so, what then——?”
“Simply this,” replied Lord Ashley, with the same pleasant smile; “it has been deemed advisable to ask you if, in the course of his conversation with you that evening, Captain Mortimer permitted any remarks to fall which would tend to throw light upon his subsequent disappearance.”
Dorothy paused, hesitatingly.
“Was he not engaged that night upon some special service for the King?” she asked.