"I thought I'd
give ye th' chance, but I can't keep it open later than Tuesday."
"Thanks, awfully," said Louis. "I'm very much obliged for the offer.
I'll let you know--before Tuesday."
Rachel frowned as she folded up the jacket. If, however, the two men
could have seen into her mind they would have perceived symptoms of
danger more agitating than one little frown.
"Of course," said Thomas Batchgrew easily, with a short laugh, in the
lobby, "if it hadna been for _her_ making away with that nine
hundred and sixty-odd pound, you'd ha' had a round sum o' thousands to
invest. I've been thinking o'er that matter, and all I can see for it
is as her must ha' thrown th' money into th' fire in mistake for th'
envelope, or with th' envelope. That's all as I can see for it."
Louis flushed slightly as he slapped his thigh.
"Never thought of that!" he cried. "It very probably _was_ that.
Strange it never occurred to me!"
Rachel said nothing. She had extreme difficulty in keeping control of
herself while old Batchgrew, with numerous senile precautions, took
his slow departure. She forgot that she was a hostess and a woman of
the world.
III
"Hello! What's that?" Rachel asked, in a self-conscious voice, when
they were in the parlour again.
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