“Such as addressing impertinent observations to a lady one meets for the first time,” she rapped out.
There was a rather lengthy pause, and then I made one more attempt to break down her defences.
“I was very sorry to hear of the—the tragedy at White Towers,” I said softly. “It was a queer coincidence—”
But if I thought to disconcert her by that remark I had miscalculated. She made no reply, but simply walked a few steps away and left me standing. Her acting was perfect. I could not forbear a smile, though at the same time I admired both her courage and her cleverness. Anyone less alert would have admitted our meeting and tried in some way to secure my silence. She did nothing of the sort, but ignored the whole matter, putting up a big bluff in the assurance that since there had been no witnesses to the little midnight incident I should hesitate to tell the story lest I should not be believed. Of course I knew very well that if I had really been guilty of the impertinence of which she had accused me she would not have received it quite in that way. However, I had no opportunity for further efforts because just at that moment the Lepley girl reappeared with a shawl over her head and a big lantern in her hand, her mother and Lady Clevedon following her.
We went slowly along in a sort of zigzag, going for six or eight yards to the left of the roadway and then recrossing it and covering a similar space on the opposite side. It was a lengthy process and it was wasted time, because, as we neared the car, we saw Hartrey standing by it, looking from left to right into the darkness, evidently with rather dismal forebodings.
“He’s there!” Miss Kitty Clevedon cried in accents of relief, but the tone in which her ladyship echoed the phrase was quite otherwise. The latter approached the car and demanded to know what Hartrey meant by leaving her alone there on the high road and why he had not gone to the farm to deliver her message.
“I lost my way, my lady, in the darkness,” the man replied. “I found myself at the bend of the road higher up—”
“Now, Hartrey,” her ladyship said severely, “when I engaged you I gave you extra wages on condition that you should be teetotal.”
“My lady, I have not touched anything of the sort for nearly seven years.”
“And you—what is your name?” the old lady demanded, turning suddenly on me.