"Till the clock stops." She smiled ruefully. "I have to redeem my promise then—if necessary."
"Did Bullard put it that way?"
"I didn't understand what he meant till father explained," she said, and continued in a lighter tone: "I'm very curious about that strange clock of yours. I expect I'll spend all my time at Grey House watching it."
"I've a good mind to smash up the wretched thing the moment I get home! … Doris, once more, you are not going to marry that man!"
In the end they had parted kindly, even tenderly, feeling that each owed the other something.
* * * * *
As well as an unsettled mind Alan brought with him from London a letter from Bullard, which he had received by registered post on the Saturday night. Although it must have been indited on the top of that disturbing interview with Teddy, it was frank in manner and pleasantly congratulatory in tone; moreover, it covered the will which Alan had signed about nineteen months ago. The writer concluded with regrets for the necessity which would involve his departure for South Africa within the next few days.
"Do you think he's running away, Teddy?" Alan asked his friend after showing him the letter.
"I've no doubt he's jolly glad to go, but the journey was planned, I'm sure, before the Flitch affair. Those Rand riots, you know. Poor Lancaster, did he say anything about their effect on his income?"
"Disastrous, I'm afraid. But he seems resigned to anything now that the Syndicate matter is out of the way. I wish to goodness we could lay hands quickly on those diamonds—if they exist. I want some money."