Part 3 (1/2)
”I suppose she would.”
”The heart of the mystery lies in her not wis.h.i.+ng to try to get the jewels back. That, to me, is inexplicable. Because we women love jewels.
And no woman carries about jewels worth fifty thousand pounds without caring very much for them.”
”Just what I have thought,” said Craven.
After a short silence he added:
”Could Lady Sellingworth possibly have known who had stolen the jewels, do you think?”
”What! And refrained from denouncing the thief!”
”She might have had a reason.”
Miss Van Tuyn's keen though still girlish eyes looked sharply into Craven's for an instant.
”I believe you men, you modern men are very apt to think terrible things about women,” she said.
Craven warmly defended himself against this abrupt accusation.
”Well, but what did you mean?” persisted Miss Van Tuyn. ”Now, go against your s.e.x and be truthful for once to a woman.”
”I really don't know exactly what I meant,” said Craven. ”But I suppose it's possible to conceive of circ.u.mstances in which a woman might know the ident.i.ty of a thief and yet not wish to prosecute.”
”Very well. I'll let you alone,” she rejoined. ”But this mystery makes Lady Sellingworth more fascinating to me than ever. I'm not particularly curious about other people. I'm too busy about myself for that. But I would give a great deal to know a little more of her truth. Do you remember her remark when I said 'I wish I had known you then'?”
”Yes. She said, 'You would not have known _me_ then.'”
”There have been two Adela Sellingworths. And I only know one. I do want to know the other. But I am almost sure I never shall. And yet she's fond of me. I know that. She likes my being devoted to her. I feel she's a book of wisdom, and I have only read a few pages.”
She walked on quickly with her light, athletic step. Just as they were pa.s.sing Hyde Park Corner she said:
”I think I shall go to one of the 'old guard.'”
”Why?” asked Craven.
”You ask questions to which you know the answers,” she retorted.
And then they talked of other things.
When they reached the hotel and Craven was about to say good-bye, Miss Van Tuyn said to him:
”Are you coming to see me one day?”
Her expression suggested that she was asking a question to which she knew the answer, in this following the example just given to her by Craven.
”I want to,” he said.
”Then do give me your card.”