"I have consulted with no one, sir. I thought over the matter once more, and decided to let my own mind guide my actions."
"But Mr. Lamotte thinks the case should be pushed."
"Mr. Lamotte is my neighbor, not my guardian. He is good enough to advise me sometimes; I think he would scarcely presume to dictate."
"Ah! then I am to consider myself no longer in your service?"
She bowed her head.
"After I have cancelled my indebtedness to you," she said, serenely.
With a look of vexation that he could not hide, the private detective drew from his pocket a memorandum book, and from thence a slip of paper, which he handed to Constance.
"That is my statement," he said.
She ran her eye over the itemized account, smiling a little as she did so. Then, rising swiftly, she said:
"Excuse me for one moment."