“You’re not prepared to deny that you had these possibilities in mind when you lied to me and made me your dupe and cat’s-paw?”
“I’m not prepared to argue the matter with you,” she flung back at him, “nor to hold myself answerable to you for any thing I may choose to say or do.”
He bowed ceremoniously.
“I think that’s all,” he said pleasantly.
“It is,” she agreed curtly; then in a lighter tone she added: “There remains for me only to take my blue dishes and go home.”
As she spoke she moved over to the corner where the bandbox lay ingloriously on its undamaged side. As she bent over it, Staff abstractedly took and lighted another cigarette.
“What made you undo it?” he heard the woman ask.
He swung round in surprise. “I? I haven’t touched the thing since it was brought in—beyond kicking it out of the way.”
“The string’s off—it’s been opened!” Alison’s voice was trembling with excitement. She straightened up, holding the box in both hands, and came hastily over to the table beside which he was standing. “You see?” she said breathlessly, putting it down.
“The string was on it when I saw it last,” he told her blankly....