Part 10 (1/2)
”Sally, I want you right away; and you, too, Beatrice. It's almost a matter of life and death. Never mind the supper--we can have one some other time. Duncan, you won't mind, will you, if I take them away?” He leaned forward and added, in a whisper: ”I am carrying out what you asked me to do, and I need their help.” Then, straightening himself, he addressed Patricia: ”You will excuse us all, won't you? Come, Sally; for heaven's sake, make haste! There isn't a moment of time to lose.”
Sally Gardner had never seen her husband in quite such a state of excitement, but as she was one of the kind that is always ready for anything in the shape of adventure, and scented one here, she lost no time in complying with his request. Beatrice's expression was first of amus.e.m.e.nt; then, of comprehension. Almost before any of the party fully realized what had happened, Jack Gardner and his companions were gone. Patricia and Roderick Duncan were alone at the table.
She turned her expressive eyes toward him and regarded him closely, but in silence, for a moment. Then, in a low tone, she inquired:
”May I ask if you understand this amazing succession of incidents? To me, it is entirely incomprehensible. If you can explain it, I wish you would do so.”
”I am afraid, Patricia, that it cannot be explained--that is, any farther than I've already done so,” he replied.
”Who is responsible for this remarkable story you say the newspaper man asked you about?”
Duncan hesitated. Then, he replied:
”When Beatrice and I left the opera-house to-night, we entered a taxicab, and we did drive as far as the iron gateway that admits one to the Church of the Transfiguration. We did not enter; in fact, we did not leave the cab at all. It is possible, though hardly probable, that we were followed by some reporter.”
”But why did you drive to the Church of the Transfiguration, at all?”
she asked him, with a smile upon her face that had something of derision in it, for she plainly saw that Duncan was floundering badly in his effort to explain. When he hesitated for a suitable reply, she continued: ”Why, may I ask, did you leave the box at the opera-house, in such a surrept.i.tious manner? It seems to me that the Church of the Transfiguration was an odd destination for you to have selected, when you did leave it, with Beatrice for a companion. Or was there a pre-arrangement between you. Was it her suggestion, or was it yours, Roderick?”
”It was mine,” he replied; and he could not help smiling at the recollection of it, even though the present moment was filled with tragic possibilities.
”It seems to amuse you,” she told him.
”It does--now.”
”Had you, for the moment, forgotten that you were under contract with me, for Monday morning?”
Instead of replying at once, he leaned forward half-across the table toward her, and, fixing his gaze steadily upon her, said, with low earnestness:
”Patricia, for G.o.d's sake, let us cease all this fencing; let us put an end to this succession of misunderstandings. You know how I love you! You know--”
”I know that this is a very badly chosen time and place for you to make such declarations, or for me to listen to them. Will you come back with me now to the other table, and join Mr. Melvin and my father? People have begun to observe us. If these rumors bear any fruits, such a course seems to me to be the best one to adopt, under the circ.u.mstances.”
She arose without awaiting his reply, and he followed her.
”Melvin,” he said to the lawyer, as soon as he was seated at the other table, ”Miss Langdon will agree with me, I think, that it is quite necessary I should accompany you to your home when we leave this place, in order to examine with you certain papers which you have drawn, or are to draw, at her request. Have I your permission, Patricia?” he added.
”I see no objection, if that is what you mean,” Patricia replied; ”although I think it would be better that we should all drive together to Mr. Melvin's house for the papers--”
”I have them here, in my pocket,” the lawyer interrupted her.
”So much the better, then,” Patricia continued, rapidly. ”I think the best arrangement, all circ.u.mstances considered, would be to go together to my father's house, so that all the interested parties may be present at the interview.”
Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, this was agreed upon, and in due time the four were grouped in the library of the Langdon home, where Malcolm Melvin, with the notes he had made that afternoon before him, began in a monotonous voice to read the stipulations of the doc.u.ment upon which Patricia Langdon had decided that she could rely, to supply a soothing balm for her wounded pride. It was a strange gathering to a.s.semble at two o'clock in the morning, but none of them, save possibly the lawyer, seemed cognizant of the curious aspect of the meeting.
CHAPTER VII
THE BITTERNESS OF JEALOUSY