"It never occurred to me to go away!" he said angrily. "I want you always to remember, Blanche, that I told you, here, and now, that, even if appearances may come to seem damnably against me, I am an innocent man."
She answered: "I will always remember that, and always say so."
He said abruptly: "I want you to do me a kindness."
She asked uneasily: "What is it, Lionel?"
"I want you to get Gifford to prevent the meeting which has been arranged for to-morrow morning between Panton and the Home Office expert called Spiller."
He waited a moment, then went on: "It was the summons to Panton which put me on the track of—of this conspiracy." And Blanche felt that this time Varick was speaking the truth.
She said, deprecatingly: "Mark would do a great deal to please me, but I'm afraid he won't do that."
"I think he may," he answered, in a singular tone, "you may have a greater power of persuasion than you know."
She made no answer to that, knowing well that Mark would never interfere with regard to such a matter as this.
"Can you suggest any reason I can give, why we should be all going away to-day?" she asked falteringly.