He hurried to the telephone again. "Hello! Ellerdine has just gone out. Hello! Where are you speaking from? Damn! We're cut off. Hello! Hello!"
He listened for nearly half a minute, taut and strained as a greyhound on the leash; then he flung the receiver angrily upon the bracket.
"We're cut off," he repeated, looking at her almost stupidly, as if the situation was beyond him.
Collingwood said nothing for a little time. At last he spoke. "I didn't think of that," he said. "Can he have had us——"
"What? What?" she almost shrieked.
"Followed?"
He plunged his hands into the pockets of his dinner-jacket and bent his head, thinking deeply. Then he looked up at Peggy. "Peggy," he said at length, "rumour—he has been ridiculed into action—the crash has come."
The girl held out both hands towards him as if warding off a blow. "Go, go!" she cried; "please go! I sha'n't speak another word to you to-night. Go at once!"
"I can't leave you now, Peggy. I just worship you."
"I shall ring for my maid," she said, and moved towards the bell-push.