Part 22 (1/2)
”This meeting,” she said slowly in a low voice, ”is certainly an unexpected one. Mr. Shuttleworth doesn't know you are here, does he?”
”No,” I replied. ”He's down in the paddock, I believe.”
”He has been called out suddenly,” she said. ”He's driven over to Clatford with Mrs. Shuttleworth.”
”And you are here alone?” I exclaimed quickly.
”No. There's another guest--Elsie Durnford,” she answered. ”But,” she added, her self-possession at once returning, ”but why are you here, Mr. Biddulph?”
”I wanted to see Mr. Shuttleworth. Being a friend of yours, I believed that he would know where you were. But, thank Heaven, I have found you at last. Now,” I said, smiling as I looked straight into her fathomless eyes, ”tell me the truth, Miss Pennington. I did not lose you the other morning--on the contrary, you lost me--didn't you?”
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she gave vent to a nervous little laugh.
”Well,” she answered, after a moment's hesitation, ”to tell the truth, I did. I had reasons--important ones.”
”I was _de trop_--eh?”
She shrugged her well-formed shoulders, and smiled reproachfully.
”But why?” I asked. ”When I found you, it was under very curious circ.u.mstances. A man--a thief--had just cashed a cheque of mine for a thousand pounds, and made off with the proceeds--and----”
”Ah! please do not refer to it, Mr. Biddulph!” she exclaimed quickly, laying her slim fingers upon my arm. ”Let us speak of something else--anything but that.”
”I have no wish to reproach you, Miss Pennington,” I hastened to a.s.sure her. ”The past is to me of the past. That man has a thousand pounds of mine, and he's welcome to it, so long as----” and I hesitated.
”So long as what?” she asked in a voice of trepidation.
”So long as you are alive and well,” I replied in slow, meaning tones, my gaze fixed immovably on hers. ”In Gardone you expressed fear for your own safety, but so long as you are still safe I have no care as to what has happened to myself.”
”But----”
”I know,” I went on, ”the ingenious attempt upon my life of which you warned me has been made by those two scoundrels, and I have narrowly escaped. To you, Miss Pennington, I owe my life.”
She started, and lowered her eyes. Apparently she could not face me.
The hand I held trembled within my grasp, and I saw that her white lips quivered.
For a few seconds a silence fell between us. Then slowly she raised her eyes to mine again, and said--
”Mr. Biddulph, this is an exceedingly painful subject to me. May we not drop it? Will you not forget it--if you really are my friend?”
”To secure your further friends.h.i.+p, I will do anything you wis.h.!.+” I declared. ”You have already proved yourself my friend by rescuing me from death,” I added.
”How do you know that?” she asked quickly.
”Because you were alone with me in that house of death in Bayswater.
It was you who killed the hideous reptile and who severed the bonds which held me. They intended that I should die. My grave had already been prepared. Cannot you tell me the motive of that dastardly attack?” I begged of her.
”Alas! I cannot,” she said. ”I warned you when at Gardone that I knew what was intended, but of the true motive I was, and am still, entirely ignorant. Their motives are always hidden ones.”
”They endeavoured to get from me another thousand pounds,” I exclaimed.
”It is well that you did not give it to them. The result would have been just the same. They intended that you should die, fearing lest you should inform the police.”