“So,� he said, “this marks the beginning of your campaign, does it?�
“Of my campaign?� she asked, raising her brows, as if she did not understand.
“The beginning of the effort to carry out the threat you made,� he added.
“A threat I made? To you, Mr. Carter? Surely, you are mistaken,� she smiled back at him.
“At least, you took it upon yourself on the occasion of our last interview, to give me what you were pleased to call a warning,� he said.
“Did I? A warning? Was I so foolish and childish as that? How absurd!� This time she uttered a little rippling laugh which was not unmistakable.
“How soon may we expect to receive cards, madam?� he asked her derisively.
“Cards, Mr. Carter? For the wedding that I prognosticated? Really, I couldn’t say, you know. The gentleman and I have only just met, you see. But, really, I feel that I have already made an impression. He has promised to drink tea with me at my home to-morrow at three.�
This statement, given voluntarily on her part, was a decided disappointment to the detective. He would have preferred it otherwise—that she had not told him, for he had made up his mind that he would find a way to enter her house and to be present at that interview, and now it was plainly impossible to do so.
“Does she know that I was listening in the adjoining box, and that I overheard the making of the appointment?� he thought to himself. Aloud, he asked her: