He peered about suspiciously. “Didn’t see anything of him––did you?”
Eileen looked away from the ferrety eyes that searched hers.
“I was just going to bed,” she answered nervously. “I––I fancied I heard voices and a shot.”
“Wasn’t any fancy, miss!”
“I––I opened the door and looked out, but didn’t hear anything more, so I closed the door again.”
“Hum!” put in her interlocutor, rubbing his chin. “You didn’t see any signs of our man when you looked out?”
Eileen shivered, for she did not know how much these men knew or how much they had really seen.
“Yes or no, miss!” he snapped.
“No!––most certainly, no!” Eileen shot back at him in defiance. “How dare you talk to me in that way!”
Tears of vexation sprang to her eyes; vexation that she should have had to lie, although it was forced upon her unless she meant to betray the man who had trusted himself to her safe-keeping.