第22章

“Allright，oldfellow。Icantellyouhowtofindtheplaceaswegoalonginthegig。By-the-by，there’sonethingthat’sratherimportant。I’dbettermentionitwhileIthinkofit。“

“Whatisthat？“

“Youmustn’tpresentyourselfattheinninyourownname；andyoumustn’taskforherby_her_name。“

“WhoamItoaskfor？“

“It’salittleawkward。Shehasgonethereasamarriedwoman，incasethey’reparticularabouttakingherin——“

“Iunderstand。Goon。“

“Andshehasplannedtotellthem(bywayofmakingitallrightandstraightforbothofus，youknow)thatsheexpectsherhusbandtojoinher。IfIhadbeenabletogoIshouldhaveaskedatthedoorfor’mywife。’Youaregoinginmyplace——“

“AndImustaskatthedoorfor’mywife，’orIshallexposeMissSilvestertounpleasantconsequences？“

“Youdon’tobject？“

“NotI!Idon’tcarewhatIsaytothepeopleoftheinn。It’sthemeetingwithMissSilvesterthatI’mafraidof。“

“I’llputthatrightforyou——neverfear!“

Hewentatoncetothetableandrapidlyscribbledafewlines——thenstoppedandconsidered。“Willthatdo？“heaskedhimself。“No；I’dbettersaysomethingspooneytoquiether。“Heconsideredagain，addedaline，andbroughthishanddownonthetablewithacheerysmack。“Thatwilldothebusiness!Readityourself，Arnold——it’snotsobadlywritten。“

Arnoldreadthenotewithoutappearingtosharehisfriend’sfavorableopinionofit。

“Thisisrathershort，“hesaid。

“HaveItimetomakeitlonger？“

“Perhapsnot。ButletMissSilvesterseeforherselfthatyouhavenotimetomakeitlonger。Thetrainstartsinlessthanhalfanhour。Putthetime。“

“Oh，allright!andthedatetoo，ifyoulike。“

Hehadjustaddedthedesiredwordsandfigures，andhadgiventherevisedlettertoArnold，whenSirPatrickreturnedtoannouncethatthegigwaswaiting。

“Come!“hesaid。“Youhaven’tamomenttolose!“

Geoffreystartedtohisfeet。Arnoldhesitated。

“ImustseeBlanche!“hepleaded。“Ican’tleaveBlanchewithoutsayinggood-by。Whereisshe？“

SirPatrickpointedtothesteps，withasmile。Blanchehadfollowedhimfromthehouse。Arnoldranouttoherinstantly。

“Going？“shesaid，alittlesadly。

“Ishallbebackintwodays，“Arnoldwhispered。“It’sallright!

SirPatrickconsents。“

Sheheldhimfastbythearm。ThehurriedpartingbeforeotherpeopleseemedtobenotapartingtoBlanche’staste。

“Youwilllosethetrain!“criedSirPatrick。

GeoffreyseizedArnoldbythearmwhichBlanchewasholding，andtorehim——literallytorehim——away。Thetwowereoutofsight，intheshrubbery，beforeB