Suddenly, however, the Admiral sprang to his feet and exclaimed:
"What if, to make assurance doubly sure, she has destroyed that sketch!"
[CHAPTER XXV.]
THREE BLIND MICE.
FROM that time forward the Admiral was a persistent caller at the Highwoods, for he could not regain his natural composure until he had seen and questioned Phil. The first evening he called Phil had gone out to dinner with some old classmates, and as the Admiral said nothing of the purpose of his visit there was nothing to prevent Phil from remaining late at his office the next night.
All the while, too, Jermyn, whom the Admiral met daily at breakfast, carried himself with an air of bravado which was in the highest degree exasperating. Was it possible that the fellow had himself secured those sketches in some way, and was having a malignantly delightful time in torturing an old man who had been his best friend? It did not seem possible, so one morning the Admiral cautiously remarked:
"By the way, have you done anything about those sketches?"
"Not a thing."
"You don't know anything about them?"