“I hope,” said Helen, at parting, “that I may persuade you to come here and dine with my father some evening when Mrs. Capella and I are in town. If you take any interest in old coins he will entertain you for hours.”
“Then I depend on you to bring an invitation to the Hall this evening. I expect to be in Stowmarket next week.”
“Are you leaving to-morrow?” inquired Mrs. Capella.
“I think so.”
“Would you care to walk to the house with me now?”
“I will be delighted.”
So the carriage was sent off, and the two followed on foot. Brett thought that impulse had led him aright.
Once past the lodge gates, Margaret looked at him suddenly, with a quick, searching glance. Hume was not in error when he spoke of her “Continental tricks of manner.”
“You wonder,” she said, “why I do not trust you fully? You know that I am keeping something back from you? You imagine that you can guess a good deal of what I am endeavouring to hide?”
“To all those questions, I may generally answer ‘Yes.’”