"There have been times when it would have done my head good."
Sandford knew how to order a dinner; and so by the time that Merrihew had emptied his second glass of Burgundy and his first of champagne, he was in the haze of golden confidence. He would find Kitty, and when he found her he would find her heart as well.
"Say, Jack," said Sandford, "what did you mean by that fool cable, anyhow?"
Hillard had been patiently waiting for an opening of this sort. "And what did you mean by hoaxing me?"
"Hoaxing you?"
"That's the word. I was in your house that night; I was there as surely as I am here to-night."
"Nell, am I crazy, or is it Jack?"
"Sometimes," said Mrs. Sandford, "when you put the chauffeur in the tonneau, I'm inclined to think that it is you."
Hillard looked straight into the placid grey eyes of his hostess. Very slowly one of the white lids drooped. His heart bounded.
"But really," continued Sandford seriously, "unless you bribed the caretaker, you could not possibly have entered the house. You have been dreaming."