“I don’t mean to stay!” Macloud interposed. “I’ll promise to come back with you in two days at the most.”
“Yes, I suppose you will!” Croyden smiled. “You can easily find your way back. For me, it’s easier to stay away from Northumberland, than to go away from it, again.”
And Macloud, being wise, dropped the conversation, saying only:
“Well, I may not have to go.”
A little later, as he sat in the drawing-room at Carringtons’, he broached a matter which had been on his mind for some time—working around to it gradually, with Croyden the burden of their talk. When his opportunity came—as it was bound to do—he took it without hesitation.
“You are right,” he replied. “Croyden had two reasons for leaving Northumberland: one of them has been eliminated; the other is stronger than ever.”
She looked at him, shrewdly.
“And that other is a woman?” she said.
He nodded. “A woman who has plenty of money—more than she can ever spend, indeed.”