“And are you quite determined that I shall go no farther?” I asked earnestly.
“Quite.”
I saw some hidden reason in this decision, but what it was I failed to make out. She was certainly most determined, and, further, she seemed to have been suddenly filled with an unusual excitement, betrayed in her white, almost haggard, face.
So I stopped the cab at last, just as we reached the dark Heath.
“I must say that I am very disappointed at this abrupt ending to our brief acquaintanceship,” I said, taking her hand and helping her out.
“Ah! doctor,” she sighed. Then, in a voice full of strange meaning, she added: “Perhaps one day you will learn the real reason of this decision. I thank you very much for accompanying me so far. Good-night.”
She allowed her hand to rest in mine for a moment; then turned and was lost in the darkness, leaving me standing beside the cab.
CHAPTER XIV
REQUIRES EXPLANATION
The pretty Miss Bristowe was certainly an enigma.
In that dingy consulting-room in the Walworth Road I often sat during the days that followed, musing over that curious and fruitless journey. I felt rather piqued than disappointed, for to put it bluntly I had been fooled, and left to pay nearly a sovereign to a cabman.