"No. Who?"
Philip told him. His eyes opened very wide.
"Not the fellow I've heard you talk about?"
Esdaile nodded gloomily.
"And you mean he fired the pistol?"
There was an embarrassed silence. Nobody so far had ventured to express his thought quite so nakedly. We had an obscure feeling of resentment, as if Monty had been a little lacking in tact. He sat up on his stool and pursed his lips into the shape of a whistle.
"I—say! That makes it the dickens, doesn't it? Well, I know what his eyes looked like, I can promise you that! Poor devil! Thank goodness you were all too busy watching Philip when he came up from down below to notice me much. Nobody noticed me except Audrey, and she——"
Philip sliced his words off like a guillotine.
"You haven't told her anything about this, have you?"
Monty stared at him. "No," he replied, "as a matter of fact I haven't; but what if I had? I don't quite see——"