Part 25 (1/2)
”Why did you let them?” asked Trix.
Again the man shrugged his shoulders.
”I have no responsibility in the matter.”
”Doctor Hilary has, then,” she flashed out.
”Has he?” was the quiet response.
”He has told people you were dead.”
”Are you sure of that?”
”Well, he's let them think so anyway. Why has he?” demanded Trix.
”You ask a good many questions for an--er--an intruder,” remarked the man.
Trix's chin went up. ”I'm sorry. I apologize. I'll go.”
”No, don't,” said the man. ”Sit down.”
Trix sat down near a table. She looked straight at him.
”Well,” she asked, ”what do you want to say to me?”
”I am Nicholas Danver,” he said.
”I was quite sure of that,” nodded Trix. She was recovering her self-possession.
”I had an excellent reason for allowing people to imagine I was dead,” he remarked, ”as excellent a one, perhaps, as yours for your--your unexpected appearance.”
”I'm glad you didn't say 'intrusion' again,” said Trix thoughtfully.
Nicholas gave a short laugh.
There was a little silence.
”Doctor Hilary must have told a dreadful lot of lies,” said Trix slowly and not a little regretfully.
”On the contrary,” said Nicholas, ”he told none.”
Trix looked up quickly.
”Listen,” said Nicholas, ”it's quite an interesting little history in its way. You can stop me if I bore you.... Doctor Hilary says, in the hearing of a housemaid, that it might be a good plan to consult a specialist. It is announced in the village that the Squire is going to consult a specialist. Doctor Hilary travels up to town with an empty litter. The village announces that he has taken the Squire to the specialist. He returns alone. The station-master asks him when the Squire will return from London. He is briefly told, never. The village announces the Squire's demise. I don't say that certain little further incidents did not lend colour to the idea, such as the Squire confining himself entirely to two rooms, and allowing the butler alone of the servants to see him; Doctor Hilary's dismissal of the other indoor servants on his return to town; the deserted appearance of the house. But from first to last there was less actual direct lying in the matter, than in--shall I say, than in a simple sneeze.”
A third time the colour mounted in Trix's cheeks.
”You'll not let me forget _that_,” she said pathetically. ”But why ever did you want everyone to think you were dead?”
Nicholas looked towards the window thoughtfully, ruminatively.