Come
to my room to-night. I shall go up early, on the plea of letters. I
always carry with me--certain documents. For her child's sake, I will
show them to you."
At the last words the voice of the speaker, rich in every tender and
tragic note, no less than in those of irony or invective, wavered for
the first time. He stooped abruptly, took up the book he had been
reading, and left the room.
Marsham, too, went up-stairs. As he passed along the main corridor to
his room, lost in perplexity and foreboding, he heard the sound of a
woman's dress, and, looking up, saw Alicia Drake coming toward him.
She started at sight of him, and under the bright electric light of the
passage he saw her redden.
"Well, Oliver!--you stayed a good while."
"Not so very long. I have been home nearly an hour. I hope the horses
went well!"
"Excellently. Do you know where Sir James is?"
It seemed to him the question was significantly asked. He gave it a cold
answer.
"Not at this moment. He was in the smoking-room a little while ago."
He passed her abruptly. Alicia Drake pursued her way to the hall. She
was carrying some letters to the post-box near the front door.
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