Wenham Garner!"
Away like a flash went the new-found peace in the girl's face.
She caught at her breath, her fingers gripped the table in front
of her. Once more she was as he had known her first--pale, with
great terrified eyes shining out of a haggard face.
"She has been to you," Beatrice gasped, "for a house? You are
sure?"
"I am quite sure," Tavernake declared, calmly.
"You recognized her?"
He assented gravely.
"It was the woman who stood in the chemist's shop that night,
signing her name in a book," he said.
He did not apologize in any way for the shock he had given her.
He had done it deliberately. From that very first morning, when
they had breakfasted together at London Bridge, he had felt that
he deserved her confidence, and in a sense it was a grievance
with him that she had withheld it.
"Did she recognize you?"
"Yes," he admitted. "I was sent for into the office and found
her there with the chief. I felt sure that she recognized me
from the first, and when she agreed to look at Grantham House,
she insisted upon it that I should accompany her. While we were
in the motor-car, she asked me about you. She wished for your
address."
"Did you give it to her?" the girl cried, breathlessly.
"No; I said that I must consult you first."
She drew a little sigh of relief. Nevertheless, she was looking
white and shaken.
"Did she say what she wanted me for?"
"She was very mysterious," Tavernake answered.
Pages:
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78