第49章

“’Heaskedforherbythenameofhiswife，atthedoor，’“readSirPatrick。“Meaning，Ipresume，thedooroftheinn？Hadtheladypreviouslygivenherselfoutasamarriedwomantothepeopleoftheinn？“

“Yes。“

“Howlonghadshebeenattheinnbeforethegentlemanjoinedher？“

“Onlyanhourorso。“

“Didshegiveaname？“

“Ican’tbequitesure——Ishouldsaynot。“

“Didthegentlemangiveaname？“

“No。I’mcertain_he_didn’t。“

SirPatrickreturnedtothememorandum。

“’Hesaidatdinner，beforethelandladyandthewaiter，Itaketheseroomsformywife。Hemade_her_sayhewasherhusband，atthesametime。’Wasthatdonejocosely，Mr。Delamayn——eitherbytheladyorthegentleman？“

“No。Itwasdoneindownrightearnest。“

“Youmeanitwasdonetolooklikeearnest，andsotodeceivethelandladyandthewaiter？“

“Yes。“

SirPatrickreturnedtothememorandum。

“’Afterthat，hestoppedallnight。’Stoppedintheroomshehadtakenforhimselfandhiswife？“

“Yes。“

“Andwhathappenedthenextday？“

“Hewentaway。Waitabit!Saidhehadbusinessforanexcuse。“

“Thatistosay，hekeptupthedeceptionwiththepeopleoftheinn？andlefttheladybehindhim，inthecharacterofhiswife？“

“That’sit。“

“Didhegobacktotheinn？“

“No。“

“Howlongdidtheladystaythere，afterhehadgone？“

“Shestaid——well，shestaidafewdays。“

“Andyourfriendhasnotseenhersince？“

“No。“

“AreyourfriendandtheladyEnglishorScotch？“

“BothEnglish。“

“Atthetimewhentheymetattheinn，hadtheyeitherofthemarrivedinScotland，fromtheplaceinwhichtheywerepreviouslyliving，withinaperiodoflessthantwenty-onedays？“

Geoffreyhesitated。TherecouldbenodifficultyinansweringforAnne。LadyLundieandherdomesticcirclehadoccupiedWindygatesforamuchlongerperiodthanthreeweeksbeforethedateofthelawn-party。Thequestion，asitaffectedArnold，wastheonlyquestionthatrequiredreflection。Aftersearchinghismemoryfordetailsoftheconversationwhichhadtakenplacebetweenthem，whenheandArnoldhadmetatthelawn-party，GeoffreyrecalledacertainreferenceonthepartofhisfriendtoaperformanceattheEdinburghtheatre，whichatoncedecidedthequestionoftime。ArnoldhadbeennecessarilydetainedinEdinburgh，beforehisarrivalatWindygates，bylegalbusinessconnectedwithhisinheritance；andhe，likeAnne，hadcertainlybeeninScotland，beforetheymetatCraigFernie，foralongerperiodthanaperiodofthreeweeksHeaccordinglyinformedSirPatrickthattheladyandgentlemanhadbeeninScotlandformorethantwenty-onedays——andthenaddedaquestiononhisownbehalf：

“Don’tletmehurryyou，Sir——but，shallyousoonhavedone？“

“Ishallhavedone，aftertwomorequestions，“answeredSirPatrick。“AmItounderstandthattheladyclaims，onthestrengthofthecircumstanceswhichyouhavementi