"Hah! I see! … But, by God, I'll destroy the lot of you yet!"
"Thirty seconds left, Mr. Bullard…. Twenty…. Ten…." Teddy stood up.
Two minutes later he stepped, almost jauntily, from the room. His little private income had disappeared, but he had a document worth all the world to him in his pocket. As he opened the door Bullard's face was that of a fiend; his hand went back to a drawer ere he remembered that he was not at his own desk.
* * * * *
Teddy was a little behind time in reaching Kensington Gardens, and he looked so haggard that the girl's heart failed her.
"Everything's all right, Doris," he said, rather huskily. "Let's sit down here for a minute."
"Teddy, you're ill!"
He shook his head, and gave her the paper, saying, "Take care of it. I don't think Bullard will trouble you or Mr. Lancaster again, Doris."
She read and began to tremble. With a sob she whispered, "Teddy, Teddy, is it true?"
He did not answer. He had a queer sleepy, ghastly look.