“I must tell them,” cried the girl, “they must know that I have seen some one who has seen him. But if they know I have seen you——”
She paused; as though asking advice she looked questioningly at Roddy. He shook his head.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“My mother and sister don’t know that I am here,” Inez told him. “If they did they would be very angry. No one,” she added warningly, “must know. They are afraid of you. They cannot understand why you offer to help us. And they mistrust you. That is why I had to see you here in this way.” With a shrug of distaste the girl glanced about her. “Fortunately,” she added, “you understand.”
“Why, yes,” Roddy assented doubtfully. “I understand your doing what you did, but I don’t understand the others. Who is it,” he asked, “who mistrusts me? Who,” he added smiling, “besides yourself?”
“My mother,” answered Inez directly, “your consul, Captain Codman, Colonel Vega, and——”
In surprise, Roddy laughed and raised his eyebrows.
“Vega!” he exclaimed. “Why should Vega mistrust me?” Knowing what was in his mind, the girl made him a formal little bow.
“It is not,” she answered, “because you saved his life.” In obvious embarrassment she added: “It is because you are not in the confidence of your father. You can see that that must make it difficult for Colonel Vega.”