"What does this mean?" she asked sternly.
Behind her in the doorway the tragic face of Sara Van Valkenberg was framed.
"This—this scoundrel was trying to murder me."
Armitage was looking at her over his shoulder.
"Please don't stay here, Miss Wellington. This man stole a very important part of a torpedo that I invented. I am going to make him return it before he leaves this room."
"He says what is untrue," said Koltsoff. "It is not his property. And at all events, as I have told him, I do not possess it."
The color had returned to Anne's face. She swayed slightly as a great wave of light, of knowledge, passed over her mind.
"Oh!" Her lips moved as mechanically as those of an automaton and her face was as expressionless. "Oh!" Her eyes seemed burning through Armitage. "And you made me believe—I mean I thought—I—I—"
She bowed her head, trying to stifle tears of shame and indignation.
"Don't, Miss Wellington. Don't misunderstand! Wait until I can explain—then you will know. In the meantime I must have that torpedo, that part of it which this Russian spy stole."