Events followed each other in an almost uncanny sequence. When he reached the club he was handed a card by the porter, who told him that a gentleman was waiting to see him, and the name on it, to his astonishment, was that of Gregg. Fayre found some difficulty in collecting his thoughts as he went in search of his visitor and led him to a secluded corner of the almost deserted library.
The conversation opened awkwardly, for Gregg seemed to be labouring under an acute attack of embarrassment.
“Very good of you to see me after what happened,” he began clumsily, his manner even more abrupt than usual. “Fact is, I made a blithering ass of myself the other day and I’ve come to say so. Hope you’ll accept an apology.”
“That’s all right. I expect I must have seemed an infernal busybody,” said Fayre hastily. “I’m only too glad you’ve come to look on me in a more friendly light. Are you a tea-drinker or would you prefer something else?”
He waited impatiently while the servant supplied their needs. When he had gone Gregg, as he had hoped, came directly to the point.
“You asked for an explanation the other day,” he said bluntly. “If it hadn’t been for my infernally hot temper I should have given it and saved us both a lot of trouble. Well, I’ve come to give it now.”
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his tea cooling unheeded by his side.
“It’s a bit difficult to know where to begin, but you may as well have the whole story. I did know Mrs. Draycott, as you guessed, but that was before she married Draycott. I give you my word that, until I saw her lying dead at Leslie’s farm, I’d never set eyes on her since the week after she ran away from Baxter in 1916. I knew she was staying at Staveley, of course, but I fancy she avoided me there. Anyhow, I never saw her and I was glad of it, for it wasn’t an acquaintance I was anxious to renew. When that chap, Brace, asked me if I knew her, I denied it on impulse. If you ask me why, I’m blessed if I know. I hated her and everything to do with her and the time I had known her, and I suppose it was a sort of blind endeavour to put it all behind me. Anyway, as soon as I’d done it, I knew what a fool thing it was to do, but there was nothing for it then but to stick to what I’d said. How you got onto the fact that I’d ever had anything to do with her, I don’t know, but it was cursed awkward for me and I’m not surprised you got the wind up.”
“It was an accident, more or less, helped by your own obvious dislike of her. You made a mistake there.”
“I know. I was rattled over the whole thing and I’ve no doubt I gave myself away. You see, I had more than one reason for wishing to keep out of it. For one thing, I knew that my statement that I had never seen her looked fishy, to say the least of it, and then there was the boy.”