Part 83

"You could spare a few--and not miss them!" he laughed.

"Davila, am I?" she demanded.

"Are you what?"

"Blushing?"

"Not the slightest, dear."

"Here's your sour ball!" said Macloud, handing him the glass.

"Sweetened by your touch, I suppose!"

"No! By the ladies' presence--God save them!"

"Colin," said Croyden, as, an hour later, they walked back to Clarendon, "you should have told me."

"Should have told you what?" Macloud asked.

"Don't affect ignorance, old man--you knew Elaine was coming."

"I did--yesterday."

"And that it was she in the trap."

"The muff hid her face from me, too."

"But you knew."

"I could only guess."

"Do you think it was wise to let her come?" Croyden demanded.

"I had nothing to do with her decision. Miss Carrington asked her, she accepted."

"Didn't you give her my address?"

"I most assuredly did not."

Croyden looked at him, doubtfully.

"I'm telling you the truth," said Macloud. "She tried to get your address, when I was last in Northumberland, and I refused."

"And then, she stumbles on it through Davila Carrington! The world is small. I reckon, if I went off into some deserted spot in Africa, it wouldn't be a month until some fellow I knew, or who knows a mutual friend, would come nosing around, and blow on me."

"Are you sorry she came?" Macloud asked.

"No! I'm not sorry she came--at least, not now, since she's here.--I'll be sorry enough when she goes, however."

"And you will let her go?"

Croyden nodded. "I must--it's the only proper thing to do."

"Proper for whom?"