"Good God!" I exclaimed, instantly guessing his thought, "surely you can't suppose"
"I can, and do suppose. More than that, I am practically certain that"
He cut his sentence short, for Dulcie had signalled with her eyes. The waiter had re-entered the room.
I breathed more freely when at last the three of us were on our way to the railway station. Strange as it may seem, I had experienced some difficulty in ridding myself of the officious attentions of the smiling, smooth-tongued, extremely plausible waiter.
On board the steamer, in a corner of the saloon where none could eavesdrop, I related to Dulcie how I had been bound, gagged, borne out of the hotel upon the stretcher concealed beneath a sheet, and all that had subsequently occurred that I felt justified in telling her. Of the thieves' clearing-house in Lyons and my rescuer's connection with it, also of the discovery of the whereabouts of her stolen property, I could of course say nothing, my lips being in honour sealed.
A little later, as beneath the stars we slowly paced the deckthe sea was wonderfully smooth for the end of FebruaryDulcie opened her heart to me, as I had so long hoped she some day would.
"Oh, if only you knew," she suddenly exclaimed in an access of emotion, after I had, for a little while, tried to draw her on to talk about herself, "if only you knew all that I have been through, Mike, you would be sorry for me!"
"Why don't you tell me everything, my darling?" I answered gently, and, almost without my knowing it, I drew her closer to me. "You knowyou must know, that I won't repeat to a living soul anything you may say."
"Oh, yes, Mike, of course I know," she said, pressing my hands in hers, as though she sought protection, "but there is"
"There is what?"