Barbara’s heart was beating like a sledgehammer.
There was a slight movement in the nearby shrubbery. Harry Townsend wheeled like a flash. Barbara turned at the same instant. It was only a stranger who had wandered across the lawn and mistaken the path, but Barbara knew that his presence there meant eternal vigilance.
“O Mr. Townsend,” she said, “the music is commencing. I would rather return to the ballroom. I have an engagement for this dance.”
Harry Townsend realized he must manage to entice Barbara to a more secluded part of the Casino grounds before he could have a satisfactory talk with her.
“No,” he said, “we will not go back yet, I want to talk to you. We must understand each other better, before the night is over. Come!” He spoke in a voice as cold and hard as ice and took Barbara by the wrist.
Barbara could not jerk away or call for help. She decided it was best to follow him.
“You are not running away, are you, Miss Thurston?” It was Ralph’s voice calling. “I am sure Mr. Townsend will excuse you, as you have a previous engagement with me.”
“Oh, certainly,” said Harry Townsend, pleasantly, “sorry as I am to lose Miss Thurston’s society.” As Barbara and Ralph walked away, he bit his lips savagely. Then he decided to follow the tall man he had seen moving about in the shrubbery. It might be that the man suspected something. But Townsend found him ten minutes later in the smoking-room, quietly moving around among the men.
“Bab,” Ruth had a chance to whisper to her later in the evening, “is it all right with you? I was desperately frightened when I saw you disappear outside with Harry Townsend. Have you noticed something?”