Part 14 (1/2)
”What did Verna shoot?”
Both started at the voice behind the, in every insome and attractive
”You shouldn't talk so loud, father dear You're giving away our secrets to any passer-by It doesn't matter about Mr Denham, of course, because he's in them: an accomplice, an accessary, both before and after the fact--isn't that the correct expression?”
Denha ”An accessary, both before and after the fact,” he repeated to hiirl who had described herself as ”utterly uneducated”
”I' for a stroll,” she went on ”Will you come, father?”
”I think not, dear I promised to ht”
Denham started up, with an abruptness soht I acco away
”I shall be delighted,” she answered, flashi+ng a sh the bush--they've cut out soh it, and it's lovely down there We can coqai barracks That'll , father”
Ben Halse sat back in his chair, watching theether A fine pair, by Jove!” Then a sudden thought seeain he ejaculated to himself with emphasis, ”A fine pair, by Jove!”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DEVELOPMENTS
The dictuhter and their new friend was unconsciously echoed bythe broad road which constituted the e, Verna nodding to an acquaintance here and there Denhaer to drop suddenly into their ain, he seelish relation of theirs?
they wondered, for there was an unmistakable ”out from home” stamp upon him
”Do you know, you are rather a puzzle toin particular
”A forest roads which had been artificially cleared, and thus h overhead the tall tree-topsto either side,but actual ”forest primeval”
”Why, in this way,” he answered, ”Your own surroundings at home, from your account of it and your father's,a lot of other people, and houses and gardens and tennis, and all that sort of thing, the first thing you do is to start off for a lonely walk in the forest”
”Lonely walk? But I don't feel lonely You--are fairly good co sone anyhoith or withoutstruck him Was he such an ”accident” after all? Denham was not a conceited man, but he was no fool He was a man of the world, and was perfectly well aware that froarded as a ”catch” byhere was not accidental, the idea did not displease hi but And he had known his present companion exactly three hours and a half
”I suppose I should,” she answered ”As for the 'other people,' I don't know that I care ood sort, and we're civil to each other e meet, and so on But that's about all I've been sojoke about the London 'bus driver--when he gets a day off he spends it riding about on top of another 'bus as a 'fare,' likewise the actor, under sioes to other theatres”
Verna laughed ”Yes, I suppose I'etic--e It's lovely here, but these dense growths of vegetation, especially down in a hollow like this, always strike me as miasmatic”