He had the look of
a man who had received a blow, a surprise of some sort over which
he was still ruminating. Then he glanced around the room and saw
Tavernake.
"Hullo, young man!" he exclaimed. "So this is the way you follow
my advice!"
"I never promised to follow it," Tavernake reminded him.
Pritchard wheeled an easy-chair across the room and called to the
waiter.
"Come," he said, "you shall stand me a drink. Two whiskies and
sodas, Tim. And now, Mr. Leonard Tavernake, you are going to
answer me a question."
"Am I?" Tavernake muttered.
"You came down in the lift with Mrs. Wenham Gardner half an hour
ago, you went into the restaurant and ordered supper. She is
there still and you are here. Have you quarreled?"
"No, we did not quarrel," Tavernake answered. "She explained
that she was supping in the caf‚ only for the sake of meeting one
man. She wanted an escort. I filled that post until the man
came."
"He is there now?" Pritchard asked.
"He is there now," Tavernake assented.
Pritchard withdrew the cigar from his mouth and watched it for a
moment.
"Say, Tavernake," he went on, "is that man who is now having
supper with Mrs. Wenham Gardner the man whom she expected?"
"I imagine so," Tavernake replied.
"Didn't she seem in any way scared or disturbed when he first
turned up?"
"She looked as I have seen no one else on earth look before,"
Tavernake admitted. "She seemed simply terrified to death.
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