CHAPTER XXII
THE POLICE TAKE ACTION
"What have we done, Neil?"
Joyce put the question with a calmness that was truly delightful.
"It seems to me," I said, "that we've torn it badly." Then, with a last look at Sonia's retreating figure, I added: "Come inside, and I'll try to explain."
We entered the hut, where the floor was still strewn with the fragments of Joyce's letter. She seated herself on the edge of the bed and waited patiently while I took a couple of turns up and down the room.
"Joyce," I said, "I deserve kicking. I'm not sure I haven't messed up the whole business."
"Tell me," she said quietly. "I know about Latimer already; I saw
Tommy at the flat this morning."
"Well, that simplifies things," I said; and without wasting any further time in self-reproaches, I plunged straight into the story of Sonia's surprise visit and its abrupt and spirited ending.
"How I could have been such an ass I don't know," I finished ruefully. "I must have put the letter down on the table after I'd done reading it, and there I suppose it was sitting the whole time."