And when Eldrick came back she looked at him and nodded.
"I should like to talk to you and Mr. Collingwood," she said quietly.
Collingwood came across to Eldrick's office at once. And to these two
Nesta unbosomed herself of every detail that she could remember of her
interview with Pratt--and as she went on, from one thing to another, she
saw the men's faces grow graver and graver, and realized that this was a
more anxious matter than she had thought.
"That's all," she said in the end. "I don't think I've forgotten
anything. And even now, I don't know if I've done right to tell you all
this. But--I don't think I could have faced it--alone!"
"My dear Miss Mallathorpe!" said Eldrick earnestly. "You've done the
wisest thing you probably ever did in your life! Now," he went on,
looking at Collingwood, "just let us all three realize what is to me a
more important fact. Nobody would be more astonished than Pratt to know
that you have taken the wise step you have. You agree, Collingwood?"
"Yes!" answered Collingwood, after a moment's reflection. "I think so."
"Miss Mallathorpe doesn't quite see what we mean," said Eldrick, turning
to Nesta. "We mean that Pratt firmly believed, when he told you what he
did, that for your mother's sake and your own, you would keep his
communication a dead secret. He firmly believed that you would never
dare to tell anybody what he told you.
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