With a sudden, furious oath, Russell yanked himself to his feet, glared an instant and stamped out of the room.
At this point Allen lazily arose.
“Me, too?” he asked plaintively. “Can’t I stay and protect my wife?”
The sly amusement in his tone pricked the bubble of anger under which Landis had momentarily labored.
“You, too,” he nodded. “Go look up Bernard in the library. I think he wants you in there.”
“I hear and obey,” said Allen and took his departure.
Landis moved across and stood with his back to the fire, looking down at Anita. She returned his regard admiringly, confident of her own good looks and a becoming sports outfit.
“My, what a forceful personality you have!” she cooed. “I do love it so in a man!”
Landis felt his irritation return. The impudence of her attitude, half teasing, half inviting, left him unmoved. It was the lack of any firm foundation of facts from which to attack her that roused his annoyance. He put a bold face on it.
“Miss Harrison,” he said crisply, “I want to know why you lied to us about the time you left Allen’s room the night your father was murdered. You left it before the gong sounded!”