"Let's say nothing about it in future. I'll call and see you in town in a week or two—if I may."
Mechanically I declared that I should be delighted, and mounting into the car we glided down the drive to the road.
My brain was awhirl, and I was in no mood to talk. Therefore I sat with the frosty air blowing upon my fevered brow as we travelled back to Colchester.
"I didn't know you intended staying the night, sir," Bennett ventured to remark just before we entered the town.
"I didn't, Bennett."
"But you sent word to me soon after we arrived, telling me to return at noon to-day. So I went back to 'The Cups,' and spent all this morning on the engines."
"Who gave you that message?" I asked quickly.
"Mr. Sandford's man, Henry."
I sat in silence. What could it mean? What mystery was there?
As an abstemious man I felt quite convinced that I had not taken too much wine. A single liqueur-glass of brandy certainly could never have produced such an effect upon me. And strangely enough that girl's face, so shadowy, so sweet, and yet so distorted by horror, was ever before me.