“Perhaps you had.”
The wounded man looked up quickly, as though something in the young man’s tone had stung him, and their eyes met. It was little more than a glance which passed between them, yet the swift transference of thought from each to the other warned Preston to be on his guard against this polite, suave youth who was popularly said to be the most sought after bachelor in London; and in the same way La Planta knew on the instant that before him stood a man who might, under certain conditions, prove a formidable adversary.
“Good afternoon,” Captain Preston said, as he put on his hat in the hall.
“Good evening,” La Planta replied with frigid courtesy.
Then James, who had returned from the telegraph office, opened the door and the captain limped slowly up the Albany towards Vigo Street.
By the time Preston reached Regent Street, Archie La Planta had succeeded in getting through on the telephone to Mrs. Mervyn-Robertson, and was telling her what had just occurred. When he stopped speaking, he heard her give a gay little laugh.
“Didn’t I say this afternoon,” she exclaimed, “that he was one of the people whose acquaintance I preferred to drop?”
CHAPTER IV.
THE BRONZE FACE.
Though Archie La Planta had met Cora Hartsilver frequently since the Armistice, he did not know her intimately, and had therefore been rather surprised at her asking him to dine. He concluded that she must be giving a dinner party, so when on the evening Preston had called to see him, he arrived at the big house in Park Crescent, he was astonished to find that Yootha Hagerston was to be the only other guest. Then and there his quick brain began to act and, while carrying on light conversation with the two ladies, he kept asking himself what reason Mrs. Hartsilver could have had for inviting him.