As the exclamation broke from her, Joy abruptly hid her face in her hands, Bracknell coughed a little and then resumed—
“He claimed to be the agent of old Rayner, and declared he was looking for Roger Bracknell in order to warn him of your previous marriage, and to give him warning that I was alive, in case you—a—should not regard that marriage as binding.”
He looked at Joy again. Her face was still hidden in her hands.
“As I said, I was fool enough to believe him, and that accounts for my amiable reception of you just now. It even accounts for your presence here, for when my man Joe brought news that you were out in the Northward trail, the trail that Roger was following, I was morally certain that you were out upon his track, and I set out to trap you. You must own that your unexpected presence did give colour to Rayner’s story, and that I had some excuse for——”
“I was looking for your cousin Roger,” interrupted Joy, suddenly lifting her face, and meeting his questioning gaze.
He looked at her but did not immediately reply. And in the silence that followed Miss La Farge rose from her seat and began to put on her furs.
“I am going outside,” she said. “It is better that I should. You two have things to say to each other that should only be said between you.”
She passed out, shutting the door behind her, and after a little time, Dick Bracknell spoke again.
“You say you were looking for my Cousin Roger? That is a very damaging admission, is it not? It would seem that, after all, that fellow Rayner was not far off the mark.”
“You do not believe that?” answered Joy, meeting his gaze with steady eyes.