Left to himself, Teddy sighed and murmured, "A private passage with a pretty enough girl at the other end—I wonder what Doris would think about it, even in an emergency."
Arriving next door Alan found that the doctor had gone out in his car. Miss Handyside, the servant mentioned, was at home. Under an effort of will he was turning away when she appeared.
Presently they were seated in the study, and he was telling her of his expected visitors.
"I wonder," he said with some diffidence, "if you could forget that you saw Lancaster in my uncle's room that night."
There was a trace of a frown on Marjorie's brow.
"Of course I will do my best, Mr. Craig. I'm not very good at heaping coals of fire myself, but—"
"You think it strange that I should have invited him, that he should have accepted my invitation? Well, I suppose it's a natural thought. But the man has suffered terribly, and not only for his own mistakes, and I don't know that the acceptance was such an easy thing for him. Please remember that Bullard had a cruel power over him."
"And does that power no longer exist?"
"It is broken. You may be interested to know that Bullard is leaving for
South Africa this week."
"I hope that is true," she said so solemnly that he smiled. "But," she went on quickly, "I'll try to be nice to Mr. Lancaster. He did look out of his element that night, and after all, I'm not the sort to kick a man when he's down. But I must say you're a good, kind man, Mr. Craig—"