Part 25 (1/2)
”What do you mean?” Willa turned to him, startled in spite of herself.
He shrugged.
”I will tell you when the time comes to drive our bargain, and I have an idea that it will not be deferred long. You cannot conceal Tia Juana indefinitely, and I shall have more able tools to aid me in my search than the one you so cleverly removed a day or two ago.”
”I?” Willa's tone was mechanical, her thoughts centered on his implied threat and what it might portend. ”What tool?”
”Vernon,” he responded tersely. ”He is to be congratulated on his fortunate choice of a confidante. When he told you of our visit to the empty house, close on your heels----”
”You weren't; you were just over my head!” she retorted. ”Vernon told me nothing. It was unnecessary, because I heard it all. I scarcely listened, though, for it reminded me so forcibly of another secret interview of yours that my mind wandered. It was a much more significant occasion, Mr. Wiley, with results so far-reaching that they have not yet culminated.”
”Indeed?” He frowned. ”I must confess I don't recall----”
”It was an interview at night, out in the open, beneath the stars!”
Her voice trembled with sudden pa.s.sion. ”It took place near a garage, and you did not know a listener crouched in the shrubbery. The man you met and bargained with there was Juan de Soria, agent of El Negrito, and the next night El Negrito himself came down from the hills! What price did you pay for that raid, Mr. Wiley; that raid which was to force United States intervention and protection of the leases of its citizens, yours in particular?”
”You are mad!” he cried hoa.r.s.ely, but she would not be silenced.
”What did you pay in pesos for that slaughter? What will you yet be called upon to pay in vengeance by those who were spared? Don't be too confident of success in your bargaining, Mr. Wiley, until the final reckoning!”
For a moment there was silence, then with an obvious effort he laughed harshly.
”You are disposed to be highly melodramatic, my dear Billie, but unfortunately your att.i.tude is without justification. No such interview as you describe took place. I suppose it is useless for me to a.s.sure you of this, but it must have existed solely in the imagination of your informant--if you had such an informant! I will leave you now, but I beg that you will reflect upon the bargain I have offered you. Wild accusations will not serve to turn the point at issue, and for your own sake I advise you to think well. Au revoir!”
He bent to the saddle in a mocking obeisance and his horse leaped forward beneath the touch of the spurs.
Willa watched until he had disappeared between the leafless trees, then slowly moved off down a side-path.
She had warned him now. Her cards were on the table and he knew the strength of the hand she held against him. But what of his own? To what length would he, could he go in the contest which from that moment would be to the death between them? What did his vague threat mean?
CHAPTER XIV
THE KNIGHT ERRANT ONCE MORE
”We'll be late,” Angie observed as she and Willa waited in the drawing-room for the rest of the family. It was the first remark she had voluntarily addressed to her cousin since she had come upon the tete-a-tete in the library. ”Not that I care, of course, these dinners are always stupid, but the Erskines are so horribly particular. I've heard that the Bishop was late once and they went in without him.”
Willa smiled.
”I wonder who will be there?”
”The same old crowd, I suppose,” Angie shrugged. ”For heaven's sake, Willa, if they send you in again with Harrington Chase, don't monopolize him as you did at the Wadleighs'. It's horribly bad form; I wonder that mother didn't tell you.”
”Did I monopolize him? I wasn't conscious of it,” Willa said reflectively. ”He interests me.”
”Evidently!” Angie sneered. ”So do a few others, I imagine, but you shouldn't show it so plainly. I admit that you've gotten on very well so far, but your methods are horribly crude, still.”
”My methods?” Willa was honestly puzzled. ”I wasn't aware that I had any. When people bore me I let them alone; but those I find interesting for one reason or another I listen to. Is it crude to discriminate?”
Angie bit her lip.
”You can be very simple and nave when you want to!” she burst out.