He laughed shortly. “No,” he admitted. “I do not believe it—now, but I will own that I am a little curious as to the reason why you should follow on my cousin’s trail. It is—er—a little unusual.”
“I was following him, as I believed, to save him. Adrian Rayner wanted to marry me, and I had accused him of trying to kill you at North Star. He knew all about my marriage to you, though how he got the knowledge I cannot tell——”
“That is simple enough!” broke in her husband. “I wrote to old Rayner and told him——”
“But my uncle did not know, I am sure he did not know. He himself wanted me to marry Adrian, and I can’t believe he knew.”
“Perhaps not,” admitted Bracknell thoughtfully. “It is possible that young Rayner got hold of my letter to his father and that the old man never saw it at all. But what has this to do with my cousin!”
“This! Adrian Rayner told me that he was coming here in order to prove that you were dead but I was morally certain that he was coming here to find your cousin Roger and to—to——”
“To shoot him, hey? Why should he want to do that?”
“Because he knew that your cousin suspected him of that attempt on your life at North Star!”
“Wanted to get rid of a witness, I suppose. And you were following Roger to warn him.”
“Yes! That was one reason.”