"And that night I went to Mrs. Barron's as I had promised. I talked to
people--I laughed--I even danced. But never for a moment did the fear
cease gripping at my heart. At last I could stand it no longer. I felt
that I must go to where this danger was confronting Allan; and as the
house in Christie Place was the first that arose in my mind, I went
there.
"I saw the cab upon the opposite side of the street; and the driver of
it looked at me so hard that I drove on without stopping, as the
newspaper states. But my courage came back in a few moments; I
returned and went in."
"You halted on the stairs," said Ashton-Kirk. "Why?"
"Because I saw a light moving about in the hallway above," answered
Miss Vale. Then she added: "But how did you know that I stopped upon
the stairs?"
"I did not know it," replied Ashton-Kirk. "In his story the cab driver
says you entered at Hume's door and went upstairs. I have found that
the position which his cab occupied at the time was fully fifteen feet
west of Hume's doorway, making it impossible for him to see whether
you went up at once, or not. In the face of what immediately followed
your entrance, or rather, what is said to have followed it, I thought
it reasonable to suppose that you had stopped!"
"Thank you," said Miss Vale.
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