“I’ve kept you too long,” he mumbled.
She made no polite denial, but also stood up. He started out—and found he could not go.
He turned. “Please tell me two other things. First, why are you in hiding?”
“That I must be excused from answering.”
“Is it part of your plan?”
She hesitated, then nodded.
“And your calling yourself Mrs. Gardner—is that, too, a part of your plan?”
“Yes—to the extent that I am temporarily using it to hide behind. Now you must go—please!”
“Good-bye—I won’t bother you any further.”
Sick, bewildered, and with as great a fear as when he entered, Clifford started out. But at that moment there was a ring at the doorbell.