Part 42 (1/2)

”G.o.d knows!” I exclaimed, a little impatiently. ”What you do, or what you try to do, is not my business. Felicia is. That is why I have warned you.”

”Am I to have the honor, then?” Delora asked, with a curl of his thin lips,--

”You are,” I interrupted, ”if you call it an honor, although to tell you frankly, as things are at present, I am not inclined to go about begging too many different people's permission. If it were not that my brother d.i.c.ky has just written over from Brazil to ask me to be civil to you and your niece, you wouldn't have left this place so easily.”

”Your brother!” Delora said, looking at me uneasily. ”Say that again.”

”Certainly!” I answered. ”My brother d.i.c.ky, who is now out in Brazil, and who has written to me about you. You met him there, of course?” I added. ”He stayed with you at--let me see, what is the name of your place?” I asked suddenly.

”Menita,” Delora answered, without hesitation. ”Now you mention it, of course I remember him! If he has written you to be civil to us, you can do it best by minding your own business. In a fortnight's time I shall be free to entertain or to be entertained. At present I am on a secret mission, and I do not wish my work to be interfered with.”

I moved toward the door.

”I have said all that I wish to say,” I remarked. ”If I hear nothing from you I shall come back to London in fourteen days.”

”You will find me with my niece,” Delora said, ”and we shall be happy to see you.”

I left him there, feeling somehow or other that I had not had the best of our interview. Yet my position from the first was hopeless. There was nothing for me to do but to keep my word to Felicia and let things drift.

I drove to the club on my way to the station, where I had arranged for my baggage to be sent. As I crossed Pall Mall I met Lamartine. He was standing on the pavement, on the point of entering a motor-car on which was piled some luggage.

”So you, too, are leaving London,” I remarked, stopping for a moment.

He looked at me curiously.

”I am going to Paris,” he said.

”A pleasure trip?” I asked.

He shook his head.

”Not entirely,” he said. ”Only this morning I made a somewhat surprising discovery.”

”Concerning our friend?” I asked.

”Concerning our friend,” Lamartine echoed.

He seemed dubious, for a moment, whether to take me into his confidence.

”You have not found Delora yet?” I asked.

”Not yet,” he answered. ”And you?”

”I have seen him,” I admitted.

”Are you disposed to tell me where?” Lamartine asked softly.

I shook my head.