Peter went out and walked to his hotel. “I’m afraid I did mess it,” he thought, “yet I don’t see what else I could have done.”
CHAPTER XXIV.
MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND UNDERSTANDINGS.
“Did you understand what it all meant, Cousin Anneke?” asked Dorothy, as they were coming downstairs.
“No. The man who got so angry seemed to think Mr. Stirling had—”
She stopped short. A group of men on the sidewalk were talking, and she paused to hear one say:
“To see that young chap Stirling handling Maguire was an eye-opener.”
Another man laughed, rather a deep, quiet laugh. “Maguire understands everything but honesty,” he said. “You can always beat him with that.”
Miss De Voe would have like to stay and listen, but there were too many men. So the ladies entered the carriage.
“At least we know that he said he was trying to tell the truth,” she went on, “and you just heard what that man said. I don’t know why they all laughed.”