Against the background of the window curtains stood Gilbert Crosby!
CHAPTER XXII
THE LUCK OF LORD ROSMORE
Harriet Payne did not move. The curtain over the door concealed her, but it hung a little apart at one side, and she could see into the room, could see both men as they stood facing each other. For a while there was absolute silence, then Rosmore made a quick movement towards a side table on which lay a pistol.
"Stop, or you are a dead man!" said Crosby.
Rosmore stopped. He knew too much about his unwelcome guest to imagine that he would not be as good as his word. He paused a moment, then went to the table on which were the remains of the supper.
"I have no fear that you will shoot an unarmed man, Mr. Crosby," he said quietly. "I have heard many things against you, but never that you were a coward. I marvel that you have the courage to walk abroad in Dorchester, and wonder, even more, that you come into this room."
Crosby also walked to the table, and so they stood erect on either side of it, face to face, man to man, deadly enemies feeling each other's strength.
"We may come to the point at once, Lord Rosmore. Where is Mistress
Barbara Lanison?"
"I hear that she is a prisoner in Dorchester."