“I have noticed it all evening. You are not ill, are you?”
“No, indeed.”
“Miss Barclay is right,” said Captain Dillon, with a squint from one to the other. “I have noticed it. One would think, Garland, that you have lost your best friend.”
“My best friend is here,” smiled Garland, glancing at the woman beside him. “I have not lost her, I hope”.
She laid her hand on his and bent nearer to him.
The others laughed and Captain Dillon gazed, turning slightly from his companions, for the first time on face of the detective. He started perceptibly and lost color for a moment.
Nick pretended to see him at the same moment. He bowed and smiled, touching his lips with one finger at the same time, and glancing significantly at the chair opposite his own.
Captain Dillon nodded slightly, and a few moments later he excused himself, remarking to his companions:
“There is an old friend of mine. I want just a word with him.”
They glanced at Nick, but none knew him by sight, and the incident was entirely conventional.