Part 35 (1/2)
”My dear lady, this calamity was not to be foreseen I am unspeakably sorry, but I have been hard hit, and the plain truth is that I am quite powerless for the present Of course I shall do what I can to delay--er--discovery, but unfortunately I must leave for South Africa on Friday, this day week”
”Then all is lost! Ruin--disgrace--”
”Not so loud, please Be cal's invitation Now let us leave it at that
To-night I as, but I will call in theto enquire for your husband and, incidentally, to s clearer to you”
”Can't you explain now? I shan't be able to sleep--”
”No But, by the way, it would do no har, if he is really friendly, for a loan If I' is the sort of silly fool who, because he has coive lots of it away However, you can suggest it to your husband, if you like How is he to-night?”
”I think he is better, but he was so excitable a little while ago that I had to give hi now”
”Sooner or later, you know, he has got to be told of the Johannesburg disaster What about getting Doris to break it?”
After a pause--”I'll see,” said Mrs Lancaster, ”but I do wish you would give me some idea--”
”You reallyin to see ood-bye!”
Mrs Lancaster, her handsoard, lay back in her chair and for a space of minutes remained perfectly motionless At last her lips moved--
”Whatever happens, I shall have twenty-five thousand pounds”
CHAPTER XXII
As Bullard replaced the receiver, Flitch ca in
”Couldn't help bein' a bit late, ht Got lostthat came out of a bottle, I suppose,” said Bullard sarcastically
For an instant resentet it under control and answered nothing There was a certain change in the man's appearance His hair and beard were freshly trimmed, and he had a cleanlier look than we have hitherto noticed; moreover, his expression had lost a little of its habitual sullen truculence
”All right; sit down till I'm ready for you,” said Bullard, and proceeded to clear his desk of a heap of newspapers They were mostly Scottish journals of that and the previous day's dates Earlier in the evening he had searched their news colu like this: ”Mysterious and Fatal Explosion in a Clydeside Mansion” Mrs Lancaster's news had, of course, infor of the kind had taken place, and had also raised doubts which he would have to examine later
Sufficient for the present that the Green Box plot had failed Contrary to his calculations, the key had re and Caould surely have opened the box together, would have ceased to exist Their destruction, however, was perhaps only postponed--unless he becaested by Alan's invitation to the Lancasters was a more feasible one
He turned sharply fro