I admitted it readily.
"I am going back to town by the ten o'clock train," pursued the lawyer. "I may hear, when I get back, that a discovery has been made—and it may be of the greatest importance that I should have Franklin Blake at hand to appeal to if necessary. I intend to tell him, as soon as he wakes, that he must return with me to London. After all that has happened, may I trust to your influence to back me?"
"Certainly!" I said.
Mr. Bruff shook hands with me and left the room. Betteredge followed him out.
I went to the sofa to look at Mr. Blake. He had not moved since I had laid him down and made his bed,—he lay locked in a deep and quiet sleep.
While I was still looking at him I heard the bedroom door softly opened. Once more Miss Verinder appeared on the threshold in her pretty summer dress.
"Do me a last favor," she whispered. "Let me watch him with you."
I hesitated—not in the interest of propriety; only in the interest of her night's rest. She came close to me and took my hand.
"I can't sleep; I can't even sit still in my own room," she said. "Oh, Mr. Jennings, if you were me, only think how you would long to sit and look at him! Say yes! Do!"
Is it necessary to mention that I gave way? Surely not!